"Gar warn me Perthshire, and Angus baith; Fife up and downe, and Louthians three, And graith my horse!" said our nobil King, "For to Ettricke Foreste hie will I me.". Then word is gane the Outlaw till, In Ettricke Forest, where dwelleth he, "I mak a vow, and that trulie, And bade them hie them speedilye- The Laird of the Corehead is he. "He certain is my sister's son; Bid him cum quick and succour me! The King cums on for Ettricke Foreste, And landless men we a' will be.""What news? What news?" said Halliday, "Man, frae thy master unto me ?"— "Not as ye wad; seeking your aide; The King's his mortal enemie.”"Ay, by my troth!" said Halliday, "Even for that it repenteth me; For gif he lose feir Ettricke Foreste, He'll tak feir Moffatdale frae me. "I'll meet him wi' five hundred men, And surely mair, if mae may be; And before he gets the Foreste feir, We a' will die on Newark Lee!" The Outlaw call'd a messenger, And bid him hie him speedilye, With a' the power that he may be.”"It stands me hard," Andrew Murray said, "Judge gif it stand na hard wi' me; To enter against a King wi' crown, And set my landis in jeopardie! Yet, if I cum not on the day, Surely at night he sall me see. To Sir James Murray of Traquair,' This is a place at the head of Moffat-water, possessed of old by the family of Halliday. This family were ancestors of the Murrays, Earls of Annandale; but the name of the representative, in the time of James IV., was William, not Andrew. Glenriddel's MS. reads, "the countrykeeper." 3 Before the Barony of Traquair became the property of the Stewarts, it belonged to a family of Murrays, afterwards Murrays of Black-barony, and ancestors of Lord Elibank. The old castle was situated on the Tweed. The lands of Traquair were forfeited by Willielmus de Moravia, previous to 4464; for, in that year, a charter, proceeding upon his forfeiture, was granted by the crown to "Willielmo Douglas de Cluny." Sir James was, perhaps, the A message came right speedilyeWhat news? What news?" James Murray said, "Man, frae thy master unto me?”"What neids I tell? for weel ye ken The King's his mortal enemie; The King was cuming thro' Caddon Ford," Gude cause that you suld honour'd be. "And, gif he refuses to do that, We'll conquess baith his landis and he; There sall nevir a Murray, after him, Hald land in Ettricke Foreste free.' Then spak the kene Laird of Buckscleuth, Is beneath his state and his dignitie. Our Borderers sall the onset gie.' Then out and spak the nobil King And round him cast a wilie ee"Now, had thy tongue, Sir Walter Scott, Nor speak of reif nor felonie: For, had every honest man his awin kye, A right puir clan thy name wad be!"The King then call'd a gentleman, Royal banner-bearer there was he; heir of William Murray. It would farther seem, that the grant in 1464 was not made effectual by Douglas; for another charter from the crown, dated the 3d February, 1478, conveys the estate of Traquair to James Stewart, Earl of Buchan, son of the Black Knight of Lorne, and maternal uncle to James III., from whom is descended the present Earl of Traquair. The first royal grant not being followed by possession, it is very possible that the Murrays may have continued to occupy Traquair long after the date of that charter. Hence, Sir James might have reason to say, as in the ballad, "The King has gifted my lands long syne." 4 A ford on the Tweed, at the mouth of the Caddon Burn, near Yair. James Hoppringle of Torsonse, by name;' He cam and knelit upon his kné. 66 Wellcum, James Pringle of Torsonse!. A message ye maun gang for me: Ye maun gae to yon Outlaw Murray, Surely where bauldly bideth he. "Bid him mete me at Permanscore, And bring four in his cumpanie; Five erles sall cum wi' mysell, Gude reason I suld honour'd be; "And gif he refuses to do that, Bid him luke for nae good o' me! There sall nevir a Murray, after him, Have land in Ettricke Foreste free." James cam before the Outlaw kene, And served him in his ain degré— "Welcum, James Pringle of Torsonse! What message frae the King to me?"— "He bids ye meet him at Permanscore," And bring four in your company; Five erles sall gang himsell befor, Nae mair in number will he be. "And gif you refuse to do that, (I freely here upgive wi' thee,) He'll cast yon bonny castle down, And make a widowe o' that gay ladye. "He'll loose yon bluidhound Borderers, Wi' fire and sword to follow thee; There will nevir a Murray, after thysell, Have land in Ettrick Foreste free." 1 "My merryemen's lives, my widowe's teirsThe lies the pang that pinches me; When I am straught in bluidie eard, Yon castell will be right dreirie. "Auld Halliday, young Halliday, Ye sall be twa to gang wi' me; Andrew Murray, and Sir James Murray, We'll be nae mae in cumpanie."When that they cam before the King, They fell before him on their kné— "Grant mercie, mercie, nobil King! E'en for his sake that dyed on tree.""Sicken like mercie shall ye have; On gallows ye sall hangit be! "Over God's forbode," quoth the Outlaw then, "I hope your grace will bettir be! Else, ere you come to Edinburgh port, I trow thin guarded shall ye be : "Thir landis of Ettricke Foreste fair, I wan them from the enemie; Like as I wan them, sae will I keep them, Contrair a' kingis in Christentie." All the nobilis the King about, Said pitie it were to see him dee"Yet grant me mercie, sovereign prince, Extend your favour unto me! "I'll give thee the keys of my castell, Wi' the blessing o' my gay ladye, "Wilt thou give me the keys of thy castell, "But, Prince, what sall cum o' my men? I had rather lose my life and land, And Lewinshope still mine shall be ; The Newark Lee and Hanginshaw ;3 The honourable name of Pringle, or Hoppringle, is of great antiquity in Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire. The old Tower of Torsonse is situated upon the banks of the Gala. I believe the Pringles of Torsonse are now represented by Sir John Pringle of Stitchell. There are three other ancient and distinguished families of this name; those of Whitebank, Clifton, and Torwoodlee. 2 Permanscore is a very remarkable hollow on the top of a high ridge of hills, dividing the vales of Tweed and Yarrow, a little to the eastward of Minch-moor. It is the outermost point of the lands of Broadmeadows. The Glenriddel MS., which, in this instance is extremely inaccurate as to names, calls the place of rendezvous "The Poor Man's House," and hints that the Outlaw was sur. prised by the treachery of the King :— "Then he was aware of the King's coming, With hundreds three in company, 'I wot the muckle deel He learned Kingis to lie! For to fetch me here frae amáng my men, Here, like a dog for to die."" I believe the reader will think with me, that the catastrophe better, as now printed from Mrs. Cockburn's copy. The dece supposed to be practised on the Outlaw, is unworthy of the milita monarch, as he is painted in the ballad; especially if we admit h to be King James IV. 3 In this and the following verse, the ceremony of feudal inv titure is supposed to be gone through, by the Outlaw resigning He was made sheriffe of Ettricke Foreste, Surely while upward grows the tree; And if he was na traitour to the King, Forfaulted he suld never be. Wha ever heard, in ony times, Sicken an outlaw in his degré, Sic favour get befor a King, the bottom. In this retreat, the Armstrongs anno 1588, baffled the Earl of Angus, when lieutenant on the Border, although he reckoned himself so skilful in winding a thief, that he declared, "he had the same pleasure in it, as others in hunting a hare." On this occasion he was totally unsuccessful, and nearly lost his relation, Douglas of Ively, whom the free As did the OUTLAW MURRAY of the Foreste free? booters made prisoner.—Godscroft, vol. ii. p. 411. JOHNIE ARMSTRANG. There will be such frequent occasion, in the course of this work, to mention the clan, or sept, of the Armstrongs, that the Editor finds it necessary to prefix to this ballad some general account of that tribe. The Armstrongs appear to have been at an early period in possession of great part of Liddesdale, and of the Debateable Land. Their immediate neighbourhood to England rendered them the most lawless of the Border depredators; and as much of the country possessed by them was claimed by both kingdous, the inhabitants, protected from justice by the one nation, in opposition to the other, securely preyed upon both. The chief was Armstrong of Mangertoun; but, at a later period, they are declared a broken clan, i. e. one which had no lawful head, to become surety for their good behaviour. The rapacity of this clan, and of their allies, the Elliots, occasioned the popular saying, “Elliots and Armstrongs ride thieves all." But to what Border family of note, in former days, would not such an adage have been equally applicable? All along the river Liddel may still be discovered the ruins of towers, possessed by this numerous clan. They did not, however, entirely trust to these fastnesses; but, when attacked by a superior force, abandoned entirely their dwellings, and retired into morasses, accessible by paths known to themselves alone. One of their most noted places of refuge was the Tarras Moss, a desolate and horrible marsh, through which a small river takes its course. Upon its banks are found some dry spots, which were occupied by these outlaws, and their familes, in cases of emergency. The stream runs furiously among huge rocks, which has occasioned a popular saying― "Was ne'er ane drown'd in Tarras, nor yet in doubt, For ere the head can win down, the harns [brains] are out." The morass itself is so deep, that, according to an old Historian, two spears tied together would not reach yessions into the hands of the king, and receiving them back, to of him as superior. The lands of Philiphangh are still posby the outlaw's representative. Hangingshaw and Lewinswere sold of late years. Newark, Foulshiels, and Tinnies, ng belonged to the family of Buccleuch. flostration of this position, the reader is referred to a long ndence betwixt Lord Dacre and the Privy Council of Eng6 1530, concerning one Sandye Armstrang, a partisan of magand, and an inhabitant of the Debateable Land, who had threat Upon another occasion the Armstrongs were less fortunate. They had, in one of their incursions, plundered the town of Haltwhistle, on the borders of Cumberland. Sir Robert Carey, Warden of the West Marches, demanded satisfaction from the King of Scotland, and received for answer, that the offenders were no subjects of his, and that he might take his own revenge. The English Warden accordingly entered Liddesdale, and ravaged the lands of the outlaws; on which occasion, Sim of the Cathill (an Armstrong) was killed by one of the Ridleys of Haltwhistle. This incident procured Haltwhistle another visit from the Armstrongs, in which they burnt great part of the town, but not without losing one of their leaders, by a shot from a window. 66 'The death of this young man," says Sir Robert Carey, "wrote [wrought] so deep an impression upon them [the outlaws], as many vowes were made, that before the end of next winter, they would lay the whole Border waste. This [the murder] was done about the end of May [1598]. The chiefe of all these outlaws was old Sim of Whitram. He had five or six sonnes, as able men as the Borders had. This old man and his sonnes had not so few as two hundred at their commands, that were ever ready to ride with them to all actions, at their beck. "The high parts of the marsh [march] towards Scotlande were put in a mighty fear, and the chiefe of them, for themselves and the rest, petitioned to mee, and did assure mee, that unless I did take some course with them by the end of that summer, there was none of the inhabitants durst, or would, stay in their dwellings the next winter, but they would fley the countrey, and leave their houses and lands to the fury of the outlawes. Upon this complaint, I called the gentlemen of the countrey together, and acquainted them with the misery that the highest parts of the marsh towards Scotland were likely to endure, if there were not timely prevention to avoid it, and desired them to give mee their best advice what course were fitt to be taken. They all showed themselves willing to give mee their best counsails, and most of them were of opinion, that I was not well advised to refuse the hundred horse that my Lord Euers3 had; ened to become a Scottishman, if he was not protected by the English Warden against the Lord of Maxwell.-See Introduction to NICHOLSON and BURNS' History of Cumberland and Westmoreland. • Whitram is a place in Liddesdale. It is mistaken by the noble editor for Whithern, in Galloway, as is Hartwessel (Haltwhistle, on the borders of Cumberland) for Twisel, a village on the English side of the Tweed, near Wark. 3 [See the Ballad of Lord Ewrie, post.] and that now my best way was speedily to acquaint | well paid for any thing they brought us; so that wee the Quene and counsaille with the necessity of having more soldiers, and that there should not be less than a hundred horse sent down for the defence of the countrey, besides the forty I had already in pay, and that there was nothing but force of soldiers could keep them in awe; and to let the counsaile plainly understand, that the marsh, of themselves, were not able to subsist, whenever the winter and long nights came in, unlesse present cure and remedy were provided for them. I desired them to advise better of it, and see if they could find out any other means to prevent their mischievous intentions, without putting the Quene and countrey to any further charge. They all resolved that there was no second meanes. Then I told them my intention what I meant to do, which was, that myself, with two deputies, and the forty horse that I was allowed, would, with what speed we could, make ourselves ready to go up to the Wastes, and there wee would entrench ourselves, and lye as near as we could to the outlawes: and if there were any brave spirits among them that would go with us, they should be very wellcome, and fare and lye as well as myselfe and I did not doubt, before the summer ended, to do something that should abate the pride of these outlawes. Those that were unwilling to hazard themselves, liked not this motion. They said, that, in so doing, I might keep the country quiet the time I lay there, but, when the winter approached, I could stay there no longer, and that was the theeves' time to do all their mischiefe. But there were divers young gentlemen that offered to go with mee, some with three, some with four horses, and to stay with mee as long as I would there continue. I took a list of those that offered to go with mee, and found, that, with myself, my officers, the gentlemen, and our servants, wee should be about two hundred good men and horse; a competent number, as I thought, for such a service. "The day and place was appointed for our meeting in the Wastes, and, by the help of the Foot of Liddisdale and Risdale, wee had soone built a pretty fort, and within it we had all cabines made to lye in, and every one brought beds or mattresses to lye on. There wee stayed from the middest of June, till almost the end of August. We were betweene fifty and sixty gentlemen, besides their servants and my horsemen; so that we were not so few as two hundred horse. Wee wanted no provisions for ourselves nor er horses, for the countrey people were had a good market every day, before our fort, to buy 5 The Foot of Liddesdale was the garrison of King James in the Castle of Hermitage, who assisted Carey on this occasion, as the Armstrongs were outlaws to both nations. A haggis (according to Burns, "the chieftain of the pudding race") is an olio, composed of the liver, heart, etc. of a sheep, minced down with oatmeal, onions, and spices, and boiled in the stomach of the animal, by way of bag. When this bag is cut, the contents (if this savoury dish be well made) should spout out with the heated air. This will explain the allusion. 3 A Muffled Man means a person in disguise; a very necessary precaution for the guide's safety; for, could the outlawes have learned who played them this trick, beyond all doubt it must have cost him dear. 4 From this it would appear, that Carey, although his constant attendants in His fort consisted only of 200 horse, had upon this occasion, by the assistance, probably, of the English and Scottish royal garrisons, collected a much greater force. 5 There are now no trees in Liddesdale, except on the banks of the rivers, where they are protected from the sheep. But the stumps and fallen timber, which are everywhere found in the morasses, attest how well the country must have been wooded in former days. durst not follow them, for fear of loosing themselves. The principall of the five that were taken, were two of the eldest sonnes of Sim of Whitram. These five they brought to mee to the fort, and a number of goodes, both of sheep and kine, which satisfied most part of the country that they had stolen them from. "The five, that were taken, were of great worth and value amongst them; insomuch, that for their liberty, I should have what conditions I should demand or desire. First, all English prisoners were set at liberty. Then had I themselves, and most part of the gentlemen of the Scottish side, so strictly bound in bondes to enter to mee, in fifteen dayes warning, any offendour, that they durst not for their lives break any covenant that I made with them; and so, upon these conditions, I set them at liberty, and was never after troubled with these kind of people. Thus God blessed me in bringing this great trouble to so quiet an end; wee brake up our fort, and every man retired to his own house."-CAREY's Memoirs, p. 151. The people of Liddesdale have retained, by tradition, the remembrance of Carey's Raid, as they call it. They tell, that while he was besieging the outlaws in the Tarras, they contrived, by ways known only to themselves, to send a party into England, who plundered the Warden's lands. On their return, they sent Carey one of his own cows, telling him, that, fearing he might fall short of provision during his visit to Scotland, they had taken the precaution of sending him some English beef. The anecdote is too characteristic to be suppressed. One of the last Border reivers was, however, of this family, and lived within the beginning of the last century. After having made himself dreaded over the whole country, he at last came to the following end :-One a man of large property, having lost twelve cows in one night, raised the Johnie Armstrong, of Gilnockie, the hero of the following ballad, is a noted personage, both in history and tradition. He was, it would seem from the ballad, a brother of the Laird of Mangertoun, chief of the name. His place of residence (now a roofless tower) was at the Hollows, a few miles from Langholm, where its ruins still serve to adorn a scene, which, in natural beauty, has few equals in Scotland. At the head of a desperate band of freebooters, this Armstrong is said to have spread the terror of his name almost as far as Newcastle, and to have levied black-mail, or protection and forbearance money, for many miles round. James V. of whom it was long remembered by his grateful people that he made the From this narrative, the power and strength of the Armstrongs, at this late period, appear to have been very considerable. Even upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, this clan, associated with other banditti of the West Marches, to the number of two or three hundred horse, entered England in a hostile manner, and extended their ravages as far as Penrith. James VI., then at Berwick, upon his journey to his new capital, detached a large force, under Sir William Selby, captain of Berwick, to bring these depredators to order. Their raid, remarkable for being the last of any note occurring in history, was avenged in an exemplary manner. Most of the strongholds upon the Liddel were razed to the foundation, and several of the principal leaders were executed at Car-rush-bush keep the cow," about 1529, undertook lisle; after which we find little mention of the Armstrongs in history. The precautions adopted by the Earl of Dunbar to preserve peace on the Borders, bore peculiarly hard upon a body of men long accustomed to the most ungoverned license. They ap-tains, who were the chief protectors of the maraupear, in a great measure, to have fallen victims to the strictness of the new enactments.-RIDPATH, p. 703.-STOW, 819.-LAING, vol. i. The lands, possessed by them in former days, have chiefly come into the hands of the Buccleuch family, and of the Elliots; so that, with one or two exceptions, we may say, that in the country which this warlike clan once occupied, there is hardly left a landholder of the name. an expedition through the Border counties, to suppress the turbulent spirit of the Marchmen. But before setting out upon his journey, he took the precaution of imprisoning the different Border chief ders. The Earl of Bothwell was forfeited, and confined in Edinburgh Castle. The Lords of Home and Maxwell, the Lairds of Buccleuch, Fairniherst, and Johnston, with many others, were also committed to ward. Cockburn of Henderland, and Adam Scott of Tushielaw, called the King of the Border, were publicly executed.-LESLEY, p. 430. The King then marched rapidly forward, at the head of a flying. |