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INTRODUCTION.

[EDIN. 1802.]

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1453

1455

1475

his most active adherents, after they had ineffectually FROM the remote period, when the Roman Pro- exhorted him to commit his fate to the issue vince was contracted by the ramparts of Severus, of a battle. The Border chiefs, who longed until the union of the kingdoms, the Borders of for independence, showed little inclination to follow Scotland formed the stage, upon which were pre- the declining fortunes of Douglas. On the sented the most memorable conflicts of two gallant contrary, the most powerful class engaged and nations. The inhabitants, at the commencement defeated him at Arkinholme, in Annandale, when, of this era, formed the first wave of the torrent, after a short residence in England, he again endeawhich assaulted, and finally overwhelmed, the bar-voured to gain a footing in his native country.t rers of the Roman power in Britain. The subse- The spoils of Douglas were liberally distributed quent events, in which they were engaged, tended among his conquerors, and royal grants of his forlittle to diminish their military hardihood, or to feited domains effectually interested them in exclureconcile them to a more civilized state of society, ding his return. An attempt on the East Borders by We have no occasion to trace the state of the Bor- the Percy and the Douglas both together," ders during the long and obscure period of Scottish was equally unsuccessful. The Earl, grown history, which preceded the accession of the Stuart old in exile, longed once more to see his native family. To illustrate a few ballads, the earliest of country, and vowed that, upon St. Magdalen's day, which is hardly coeval with James V., such an he would deposit his offering on the high altar inquiry would be equally difficult and vain. If we at Lochmaben. Accompanied by the banished 570 may trust the Welsh bards, in their account Earl of Albany, with his usual fortune he entered of the wars betwixt the Saxons and Danes of Scotland. The Borderers assembled to oppose him, Deira and the Cumraig, imagination can hardly and he suffered a final defeat at Burnswark, in form any idea of conflicts more desperate, than Dumfries-shire. The aged Earl was taken in the were maintained, on the Borders, between the an- fight, by a son of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, one of cient British and their Tuetonic invaders. Thus, his own vassals. A grant of lands had been offered the Gododin* describes the waste and devastation for his person: "Carry me to the king!" said Douof mutual havoc, in colours so glowing, as strongly glas to Kirkpatrick: "thou art well entitled to to recall the words of Tacitus; "Et ubi solitudi-profit by my misfortune; for thou wast true to me, nem faciunt, pacem appellant." while I was true to myself." The young man wept bitterly, and offered to fly with the Earl into England. But Douglas, weary of exile, refused his proffered liberty, and only requested, that Kirkpatrick would not deliver him to the king, till he had secured his own reward. Kirkpatrick did more: he stipulated for the personal safety of his old master. His generous intercession prevailed; and the

At a later period, the Saxon families who fled from the exterminating sword of the Conqueror, with many of the Normans themselves, whom discontent and intestine feuds had driven into exile, began to rise into eminence upon the Scottish Borders. They brought with them arts, both of peace and of war, unknown in Scotland; and, among their descendants, we soon number the most powerful Border chiefs. Such, during the reign of the last Alexander, were Patrick Earl of March, and Lord Soulis, renowned in tradition; and 1249 such were also the powerful Comyns, who early acquired the principal sway upon the Scottish Marches. In the civil wars betwixt Bruce 1300 and Baliol, all those powerful chieftains espoused the unsuccessful party. They were forfeited and exiled; and upon their ruins was founded the formidable house of Douglas. The Borders, from sea to sea, were now at the devotion of a succession of mighty chiefs, whose exorbitant power threatened to place a new dynasty upon the Scottish throne. It is not my intention to trace the dazzling career of this race of heroes, whose exploits were alike formidable to the English and to their own sovereign.

The sun of Douglas set in blood. The murders
of the sixth earl, and his brother, in the Castle of
Edinburgh, were followed by that of their succes-
sor poniarded at Stirling by the hand of his prince.
His brother, Earl James, appears neither to have
possessed the abilities nor the ambition of his an-
cestors. He drew, indeed, against his sovereign,
the formidable sword of Douglas, but with a timid
and hesitating hand. Procrastination ruined his
cause; and he was deserted, at Abercorn, by the
Knight of Cadyow, chief of the Hamiltons, and by
*In the spirited translation of this poem, by Jones, the follow-
ing verses are highly descriptive of the exhausted state of the vic-
tor army:
At Madoc's tent the clarion sounds,
With rapid clangour hurried far:
Each echoing dell the note resounds-
But when return the sons of war!
Thou, born of stern Necessity,

Dull Peace! the desert yields to thee,
And owns thy melancholy sway.

1483

At the battle of Arkinholme, the Earl of Angus, a near kinsman of Douglas, commanded the royal forces; and the difference of their complexion occasioned the saying, that the Black Douglas had put down the Red." The Maxwells, the Johnstones, and the Scotts, composed his army. Archibald, Earl of Murray, brother to Douglas, was slain in the action; and Hugh, Earl of Ormond, his second brother, was taken and executed. His cap tors, Lord Carlisle, and the Baron of Johnstone, were rewarded with a grant of the lands of Pittinane, upon Clyde.-GODSCROFT, vol. i. p. 375.-BALFOUR'S MS. in the Advocate's Library, Edin burgh-ABERCROMBIE'S Achievements, vol. ii. p. 361, folio edition. The other chiefs were also distinguished by royal favour. By a charter, upon record, dated 25th February, 1548, the king grants to Walter Scott of Kirkurd, ancestor of the house of Buccleuch, the lands of Abingtown, Phareholm, and Glentonan Craig, in Lanarkshire. "Pro suo fideli servitio nobis impenso, et pro quod interfuit in conflictu de Arkinholme in occisione et captione nostrorum rebellium quondam Archibaldi et Hugonis de Douglas olim Comitum Moravia et de Ormond et aliorum rebellium nostrorum in eorum comitiva existen: ibidem captorum et interfactorum." Similar grants o land were made to Fionart and Arran, the two branches of the house of Hamilton; to the chief of the Battisons; but above all to the Earl of Angus, who obtained from royal favour a donation of the Lordship of Douglas, and many other lands now held by Lord Douglas, as his representative. There appears, however, to be some doubt, whether, in this division, the Earl of Angus received more than his na tural right. Our historians, indeed say, that William, 1st Earl of Douglas, had three sons: 1. James the 2d Earl, who died in the field of Otterburn; 2. Archibald the Grim, 3d Earl; and, 3. George, in right of his mother, Earl of Angus. Whether, however, this Archibald was actually the son of William, seems very doubtful; and Sir David Dalrymple has strenuously maintained the contraNow, if Archibald the Grim intruded into the Earldom of Douglas without being a son of that family, it follows that the house of Angus, being kept out of their just rights for more than a century, were only restored to them after the battle of Arkinholme. Perhaps this may help to account for the eager interest taken by the Earl of Angus against his kinsman.*-See Remarks on the History of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1773, p. 121.

1 A grant of the King, dated 2d October, 1484, bestowed upon Kirkpatrick, for this acceptable service, the lands of Kirmichael.

[The connexion between the house of Angus and the old line of Donglas has at length, it is believed, been settled by the researches of the learned John Riddell. The first Douglas of Angus was, according to this authority, a natural son of the first Earl of Douglas.-Ed.]

last of the Douglasses was permitted to die, in mo- | capitally punished, many imprisoned, and the rest nastic seclusion, in the Abbey of Lindores. dismissed, after they had given hostages for their future peaceable demeanour.t

1513

1516

After the fall of the house of Douglas, no one chieftain appears to have enjoyed the same exten- The hopes of Scotland, excited by the prudent sive supremacy over the Scottish Borders. The and spirited conduct of James, were doomed to a various barons, who had partaken of the spoil, sudden and fatal reverse. Why should we recapicombined in resisting a succession of uncontrolled tulate the painful tale, of the defeat and death of a domination. The Earl of Angus alone seems to high-spirited prince? Prudence, policy, the prodihave taken rapid steps in the same course of ambi- gies of superstition, and the advice of his most extion, which had been pursued by his kinsmen and perienced counsellors, were alike unable to subdue rivals, the Earls of Douglas. Archibald, sixth Earl in James the blazing zeal of romantic chivalry. of Angus, called Bell-the-Cat, was, at once, War- The monarch, and the flower of his nobles, preciden of the East and Middle Marches, Lord of Lid-pitately rushed to the fatal field of Flodden, desdale, and Jedwood forest, and possessed of the whence they were never to return. strong castles of Douglas, Hermitage, and Tantal- The minority of James V. presents a melancholy lon. Highly esteemed by the ancient nobility, a scene. Scotland, through all its extent, felt the faction which he headed shook the throne of the truth of the adage, that "the country is hapless, feeble James III., whose person they restrained, whose prince is a child.". But the Border counties, and whose minions they led to an ignominious exposed from their situation to the incursions of the death. The king failed not to show his sense of English, deprived of many of their most gallant these insults, though unable effectually to avenge chiefs, and harassed by the intestine struggles of them. This hastened his fate: and the field of the survivors, were reduced to a wilderness, inBannockburn, once the scene of a more glorious habited only by the beasts of the field, and by a few conflict, beheld the combined chieftains of the Bor- more brutal warriors. Lord Home, the chamberder counties arrayed against their sovereign, under lain and favourite of James IV., leagued with the the banners of his own son. The king was sup- Earl of Angus, who married the widow of his soported by almost all the barons of the north; but vereign, held, for a time, the chief sway upon the the tumultuous ranks of the Highlanders were ill East Border. Albany, the regent of the kingdom, able to endure the steady and rapid charge of the bred in the French court, and more accustomed to men of Annandale and Liddesdale, who bare spears wield the pen than the sword, feebly endeavoured two ells longer than were used by the rest of their to control a lawless nobility, to whom his manners countrymen. The yells with which they accom-appeared strange, and his person despicable. panied their onset, caused the heart of James to It was in vain that he inveigled the Lord quail within him. He deserted his host, and fled Home to Edinburgh, where he was tried and exetowards Stirling; but, falling from his horse, cuted. This example of justice, or severity, only 1483 he was murdered by the pursuers. irritated the kinsmen and followers of the deceased baron: for though, in other respects, not more sanguinary than the rest of a barbarous nation, the Borderers never dismissed from their memory a deadly feud, till blood for blood had been exacted to the uttermost drachm. Of this, the fate of Anthony d'Arcey, Seigneur de la Bastie, affords a melancholy example. This gallant French cavalier was appointed Warden of the East Marches by Albany, at his first disgraceful retreat to France. Though De la Bastie was an able statesman, and a true son of chivalry, the choice of the regent was nevertheless unhappy. The new warden was a foreigner, placed in the office of Lord Home, as the delegate of the very man who had brought that baron to the scaffold. A stratagem, contrived by Home of Wedderburn, who burned to avenge the death of his chief, drew De la Bastie towards Langton in the Merse. Here he found himself surrounded by his enemies. In attempting, by the speed of his horse, to gain the castle of Dunbar, the warden plunged into a morass, where he was overtaken, and cruelly butchered. Wedderburn himself cut off his head; and, in savage triumph, knitted it to his saddle-bow by the long flowing hair, which had been admired by the dames of France.-PITSCOTTIE, edit. 1728, p. 130. PINKERTON's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 169.5

James IV., a monarch of a vigorous and energetic character, was well aware of the danger which his ancestors had experienced from the preponderance of one overgrown family. He is supposed to have smiled internally, when the Border and Highland champions bled and died in the savage sports of chivalry, by which his nuptials were solemnized. Upon the waxing power of Angus he kept a wary eye; and, embracing the occasion of a casual slaughter, he compelled that earl and his son to exchange the lordship of Liddesdale, and the castle of Hermitage, for the castle and lordship of Bothwell. By this policy he prevented the house of Angus, mighty as it was, from rising to the height whence the elder branch of their family had been hurled.

Nor did James fail in affording his subjects on the Marches marks of his royal justice and protection. The clan of Turnbull having been 1510 guilty of unbounded excesses, the king came suddenly to Jedburgh, by a night march, and executed the most rigid justice upon the astonished offenders. Their submission was made with singular solemnity. Two hundred of the tribe met the king, at the water of Rule, holding in their hands the naked swords with which they had perpetrated their crimes, and having each around his neck the halter which he had well merited. A few were

* Spens of Kilspindie, a renowned cavalier, had been present in court, when the Earl of Angus was highly praised for strength and valour. It may be," answered Spens, if all be good that is upcome" insinuating that the courage of the Earl might not answer the promise of his person. Shortly after, Angus, while hawking near Borthwick, with a single attendant, met Kilspindie. "What reason had ye," said the Earl, for making question of my manhood? thou art a tall fellow, and so am I; and by St. Bride of Douglas, one of us shall pay for it !"-" Since it may be no better," answered Kilspindie, "I will defend myself against the best carl in Scotland." With these words they encountered fiercely, till Angus, with one blow, severed the thigh of his an tagonist, who died upon the spot. The Earl then addressed the attendant of Kilspindie: "Go thy way: tell my gossip, the King, that here was nothing but fair play. I know my gossip will be of fended; but I will get me into Liddesdale, and remain in my cas tle of the Hermitage till his anger be abated."-GODSCROFT, vol. ii. p. 59. The price of the Earl's pardon seems to have been the exchange mentioned in the text. Bothwell is now the residence of Lord Douglas. The sword with which Archibald Bell-the Cat slew Spens, was, by his descendant, the famous Earl of Morton, presented to Lord Lindesay of the Byres, when about to engage in single combat with the noted Earl of Bothwell, at Carberyhill.-GODSCROFT, vol. ii. p. 175.

1517

The Earl of Arran, head of the house of Hamilperilous office. But the Douglasses, the Homes, ton, was appointed to succeed De la Bastie in his and the Kerrs, proved too strong for him upon the Border. He was routed by those clans, at Kelso, and afterwards in a sharp skirmish, fought betwixt his faction and that of Angus, in the High Street of the metropolis.

+ Holingshed's Chronicle.-LESLY.

1520

I The statute 1594, cap. 231, ascribes the disorders on the Border in a great measure to the "counselles, directions, receipt, and partaking, of chieftains principalles of the branches, and househalders of the saids surnames, and clannes, quhilkis bears quarrel, and seeks revenge for the least hurting or slauchter of ony ane of their unhappy race, although it were ordour of justice, or in rescuing and following of true mens geares stollen or reft."

§ This tragedy, or, perhaps, the preceding execution of Lord Home, must have been the subject of a song, the first two lines of which are preserved in the Complaynt of ScotlandGod sen' the Due hed byddin in France, And De la Bate had never come hame. P. 100, Edin. 1801. The particulars of this encounter are interesting. The Hamil

1523

66

The return of the regent was followed by the | had slept at Melrose; and the clans of Home and banishment of Angus, and by a desultory warfare Kerr, under the Lord Home, and the Barons of with England, carried on with mutual incursions. Cessford and Fairnihirst, had taken their leave of Two gallant armies, levied by Albany, were dis- the King, when, in the gray of the morning, Bucmissed without any exploit worthy notice, while cleuch and his band of cavalry were discovered Surrey, at the head of ten thousand cavalry, burnt hanging, like a thunder-cloud, upon the neighbourJecburgh, and laid waste all Tiviotdale. This ge-ing hill of Haliden. A herald was sent to demand neral pays a splendid tribute to the gallantry of the his purpose, and to charge him to retire. To the Border chiefs. He terms them, "The boldest men first point he answered, that he came to show his and the hottest, that ever I saw in any na- clan to the King, according to the custom of the tion." Borders; to the second, that he knew the King's Disgraced and detested, Albany bade adieu to mind better than Angus.-When this haughty anScotland for ever. The queen-mother and the swer was reported to the Earl, "Sir," said he to Earl of Arran for some time swayed the kingdom. the King, yonder is Buccleuch, with the thieves of But their power was despised on the Borders, Annandale and Liddesdale, to bar your grace's where Angus, though banished, had many friends. passage. I vow to God they shall either fight or Scott of Buccleuch even appropriated to himself flee. Your grace shall tarry on this hillock with domains belonging to the queen, worth 400 merks my brother George; and I will either clear your yearly; being probably the castle of Newark, and road of yonder banditti, or die in the attempt." The her jointure lands in Ettrick forest. This chief, Earl, with these words, alighted, and hastened to with Kerr of Cessford, was committed to ward, the charge; while the Earl of Lennox (at whose from which they escaped, to join the party of instigation Buccleuch made the attempt) remained 1525 the exiled Angus. Leagued with these, and with the King, an inactive spectator. Buccleuch other Border chiefs, Angus effected his return to and his followers likewise dismounted, and received Scotland, where he shortly after acquired posses- the assailants with a dreadful shout, and a shower sion of the supreme power, and of the person of the of lances. The encounter was fierce and obstinate; youthful king. "The ancient power of the Dou-but the Homes and Kerrs, returning at the noise of glasses," says the accurate historian whom I have the battle, bore down and dispersed the left wing of so often referred to, "seemed to have revived; Buccleuch's little army. The hired banditti fled on and after a slumber of near a century, again to all sides; but the chief himself, surrounded by his threaten destruction to the Scottish monarchy."- clan, fought desperately in the retreat. The Laird PINKERTON, vol. ii. p. 277. of Cessford, chief of the Roxburgh Kerrs, pursued In fact, the time now returned, when no one durst the chase fiercely; till, at the bottom of a steep strive with a Douglas, or with his follower. For, path, Elliot of Stobs, a follower of Buccleuch, turnalthough Angus used the outward pageant of con- ed, and slew him with a stroke of his lance. When ducting the King around the country, for punishing Cessford fell, the pursuit ceased. But his death, thieves and traitors, "yet," says Pitscottie, none with those of Buccleuch's friends, who fell in the were found greater than were in his own company." action, to the number of eighty, occasioned a deadly The high spirit of the young King was galled by the feud betwixt the names of Scott and Kerr, which ignominious restraint under which he found him-cost much blood upon the Marches.ll-See PITSself; and, in a progress to the Border, for repressing the Armstrongs, he probably gave such signs of dissatisfaction, as excited the Laird of Buccleuch to attempt his rescue.

1526

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COTTIE, LESLY, and GODSCROFT.

1528

Stratagem at length effected what force had been unable to accomplish; and the King, emancipated from the iron tutelage of Angus, made This powerful baron was the chief of a hardy the first use of his authority, by banishing from the clan, inhabiting Ettrick forest, Eskdale, Ews- kingdom his late lieutenant, and the whole race of dale, the higher part of Tiviotdale, and a portion of Douglas. This command was not enforced withLiddesdale. In this warlike district he easily le-out difficulty; for the power of Angus was strongly Vied a thousand horse, comprehending a large body of Elliots, Armstrongs, and other broken clans, over whom the Laird of Buccleuch exercised an extensive authority; being termed, by Lord Dacre, chief maintainer of all misguided men on the Borders of Scotland."-Letter to Wolsey, July 18, 1528. The Earl of Angus, with his reluctant ward,

tons were the most numerous party, drawn chiefly from the west
em counties. Their leaders met in the palace of Archbishop
Beaton, and resolved to apprehend Angus, who was come to the
eity to attend the Convention of Estates. Gawin Douglas, Bishop
of Dunkeld, a near relation of Angus, in vain endeavoured to me-
diate betwixt the factions. He appealed to Beaton, and invoked
his assistance to prevent bloodshed. "On my conscience," an-
swered the Archbishop, "I cannot help what is to happen." As
be laid his band upon his breast, at this solemn declaration, the
hauberk, concealed by his rochet, was heard to clatter: "Ah!
my lord" retorted Douglas, your conscience sounds hollow." He
then expostulated with the secular leaders, and Sir Patrick Hamil-
ton, brother to Arran, was convinced by his remonstrances; but
Sir James, the natural son of the Earl, upbraided his uncle with
reluctance to fight. "False bastard!" answered Sir Patrick, "I
will fight to-day where thou darest not be seen." With these
words they rushed tumultuously towards the High Street, where
Angus, with the Prior of Coldinghame, and the redoubted Wed-
derburn, waited their assault, at the head of 400 spearmen, the
flower of the East Marches, who, having broke down the gate of
the Netherhow, had arrived just in time to the Earl's assistance.
The advantage of the ground, and the disorder of the Hamiltons,
soon gave the day to Angus. Sir Patrick Hamilton, and the
Master of Montgomery, were slain. Arran, and Sir James
Hamilton, escaped with difficulty; and with no less difficulty
was the military prelate of Glasgow rescued from the ferocious
Borderers, by the generous interposition of Gawin Douglas. The
skirmish was long remembered in Edinburgh, by the name of
"Cleanse the Causeway."-PINKERTON'S History, vol. ii. p. 181.
-PITSCOTTIE. Edit. 1728, p. 120,-Life of Gawain Douglas,
prefixed to his Virgi

A curious letter from Surrey to the King is printed in the
Appendix, No. 1.
In a letter to the Duke of Norfolk, October, 1524, Queen Mar-
garet says,
Sen that the Lard of Sessford and the Lard of Baclw

rooted in the East Border, where he possessed the castle of Tantallon, and the hearts of the Homes and Kerrs. The former, whose strength was proverbial, defied a royal army; and the latter at the Pass of Pease, baffled the Earl of Argyle's attempts to enter the Merse, as lieutenant of his sovereign. On this occasion, the Borderers regarded with wonder and contempt the barbarous array and rude equipage of their northern countrymen. Godscroft has preserved the beginning of a scoffing rhyme, made upon this occasion:

vas put in the Castell of Edinbrouh, the Erl of Lenness hath past hyz vay vythout lycyens, and in despyt; and thynkyth to make the brek that he may, and to solyst other lordis to tak hyz part; for the said Lard of Bavklw vas hyz inan, and dyd the gretyst ewelyz that myght be dwn, and twk part playnly vyth theflyz as is well known."-Cot. MSS. Calig. B. I.

I Near Darnick. By a corruption from Skirmish-field, the spot is called the Skinnersfield. Two lines of an old ballad on the subject are still preserved :

"There were sic belts and blows,
The Mattous burn ran blood."

[Another part of the field is still called the Charge Law.--ED.]
§ Sir Walter Scott lived to be proprietor of the ground on
which this battle was fought; and a stone seat, on the edge of
Kæside, about half a mile above the house of Abbotsford, marks
the spot, called "Turnagain," where Stobs halted, and Cessford
died.-ED.]

Buccleuch contrived to escape forfeiture, a doom pronounced against those nobles, who assisted the Earl of Lennox in a subsequent attempt to deliver the King, by force of arms. The laird of Bukclough has a respecte, and is not forfeited; and will get his pece, and was in Lethiquo, both Sondaye, Mondaye, and Tewis day last, which is grete displeasure to the Carres."-Letter from Sir C. Dacre to Lord Dacre, 2d December, 1526.

"To ding down Tantallon, and make a bridge to the Bass," was an adage expressive of impossibility. The shattered ruins of this celebrated fortress still overhang a tremendous rock on the coast of East Lothian.

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GODSCROFT, vol. ii. p. 104, Edit. 1743.

abode of Buccleuch, the hereditary enemy of the
English name. Buccleuch, with the Barons of
Cessford and Fairnihirst, retaliated by a raid into
England, where they acquired much spoil. On the
East March, Fowberry was destroyed by the
Scotts, and Dunglass Castle by D'Arcy, and
the banished Angus.

1533

1542

1543

The pertinacious opposition of Angus to his doom irritated to the extreme the fiery temper of James, A short peace was quickly followed by another and he swore, in his wrath, that a Douglas should war, which proved fatal to Scotland, and to her never serve him; an oath which he kept in circum- King. In the battle of Haddenrig, the English, stances, under which the spirit of chivalry which he and the exiled Douglasses, were defeated by the worshippedt should have taught him other feelings. Lords Huntly and Home; but this was a transient While these transactions, by which the fate of gleam of success. Kelso was burnt, and the BorScotland was influenced, were passing upon the ders ravaged, by the Duke of Norfolk; and Eastern Border, the Lord Maxwell seems to have finally, the rout of Solway Moss, in which ten exercised a most uncontrolled domination in Dum- thousand men, the flower of the Scottish army, fries-shire. Even the power of the Earl of Angus were dispersed and defeated by a band of five hunwas exerted in vain against the banditti of Liddes-dred English cavalry, or rather by their own disdale, protected and bucklered by this mighty chief. sensions, broke the proud heart of James; a death Repeated complaints were made by the English remore painful, a hundred-fold, than was met by his sidents, of the devastation occasioned by the depre- father in the field of Flodden. dations of the Elliots, Scotts, and Armstrongs, without wounds, and without renown, the principal When the strength of the Scottish army had sunk, connived at and encouraged by Maxwell, Buccleuch, chiefs were led captive into England. Among these and Fairnihirst. At a convention of Border commissioners, it was agreed that the King of England, was the Lord Maxwell, who was compelled, by the in case the excesses of the Liddesdale freebooters menaces of Henry, to swear allegiance to the Engwere not duly redressed, should be at liberty to lish monarch. There is still in existence the spirited issue letters of reprisal to his injured subjects, grant- instrument of vindication, by which he renounces ing "power to invade the said inhabitants of Lid- his connexion with England, and the honours and desdale, to their slaughters, burning, herships, rob- estates which had been proffered him, as the price bing, reifing, despoiling, and destruction, and so to of treason to his infant sovereign. From various continue the same at his Grace's pleasure," till the bonds of manrent, it appears that all the Western attempts of the inhabitants were fully atoned for. With Maxwell, and the other captives, reMarches were swayed by this powerful chieftain. This impolitic expedient, by which the Scottish Prince, unable to execute justice on his turbulent turned to Scotland the banished Earl of Angus, subjects, committed to a rival sovereign the power and his brother, Sir George Douglas, after a baof unlimited chastisement, was a principal cause of nishment of fifteen years. This powerful family rethe savage state of the Borders. For the inhabit- gained at least a part of their influence upon the ants, finding that the sword of revenge was substi- Borders; and, grateful to the kingdom which had tuted for that of justice, were loosened from their afforded them protection during their exile, became attachment to Scotland, and boldly threatened to chiefs of the English faction in Scotland, whose carry on their depredations, in spite of the efforts of object it was to urge a contract of marriage betwixt both kingdoms. the young Queen and the heir-apparent of England. twixt the nations, and the wavering temper of the The impetuosity of Henry, the ancient hatred beGovernor, Arran, prevented the success of this measure. The wrath of the disappointed monarch discharged itself in a wide-wasting and furious invasion of the East Marches, conducted by the Earl of Hertford. Seton, Home, and Buccleuch, hanging on the mountains of Lammermoor, saw, with ineffectual regret, the fertile plains of Merse and smoking desert. Hertford had scarcely retreated Lothian, and the metropolis itself, reduced to a with the main army, when Evers and Latoun laid waste the whole vale of Tiviot, with a ferocity of devastation hitherto unheard of. The same "lion mode of wooing," being pursued during the minority of Edward VI., totally alienated the affections even of those Scots who were most attached to the English interest. The Earl of Angus, in particular, united himself to the Governor, and gave the English a sharp defeat at Ancram Moor, a particular account of which action is subjoined to the ballad, entitled, The Eve of St. John. Even the fatal defeat at Pinkey, which at once renewed the carnage of Flodden, and the disgrace of SolThe Borders saw, with dread and detestation, the way, served to prejudice the cause of the victors. ruinous fortress of Roxburgh once more receive an English garrison, and the widow of Lord Home driven from his baronial castle to make room for the "Southern Reivers." Many of the ba1547

1529

James V., however, was not backward in using more honourable expedients to quell the banditti on the Borders. The imprisonment of their chiefs, and a noted expedition, in which many of the principal thieves were executed, (see introduction to the ballad, called Johnie Armstrong,) produced such good effects, that, according to an ancient picturesque history, "thereafter there was great peace and rest a long time, wherethrough the King had great profit; for he had ten thousand sheep go ing in the Ettrick forest, in keeping by Andrew Bell, who made the King so good count of them as they had gone in the bounds of Fife."-PITSCOTTIE, p. 153. A breach with England interrupted the tranquillity of the Borders. The Earl of Northumberland, a formidable name to Scotland, ravaged the 1532 Middle Marches, and burnt Branxholm, the

*Edgebucklin, near Musselburgh.

1545

I allude to the affecting story of Douglas of Kilspindie, uncle to the Earl of Angus. This gentleman had been placed by Angus about the king's person, who, when a boy, loved him much on account of his singular activity of body, and was wont to call him his Graysteil, after a champion of chivalry, in the romance of Sir Eger and Sir Grime. He shared, however, the fate of his chief, and for many years served in France. Weary at length of exile, the aged warrior, recollecting the King's personal attachment to him, resolved to throw himself on his clemency. As James re: turned from hunting in the park of Stirling, he saw a person at a distance, and, turning to his nobles, exclaimed, "Yonder is my Graysteil, Archibald of Kilspindie " As he approached, Douglas threw himself on his knees, and implored permission to lead an obscure life in his native land. But the name of Douglas was an amulet, which steel'd the King's heart against the influence of compassion and juvenile recollection. He passed the suppliant without an answer, and rode briskly up the steep hill towards the castle. Kilspindie, though loaded with a hauberk under his clothes, kept pace with the horse, in vain endeavouring to catch a glance from the implacable monarch. He sat down at the gate, weary and exhausted, and asked for a draught of water. Even this was refused by the royal attendants. The King afterwards blamed their discourtesy; but Kilspindie was obliged to return to France, where he died of a broken heart; the same disease which afterwards brought to the grave his unrelenting sovereign. Even the stern Henry VIII. blamed his nephew's conduct, quoting the generous saying, "A King's face should give grace."-GODS- See also official accounts of these expeditions, in DALYELL'S CROFT, vol. ii. p. 107

rons made a reluctant submission to Somer

1 In Hayne's State papers, from p. 43 to p. 64. is an account of these destructive forays. One list of the places burnt and destroyed enumerates

Fragments.

Monasteries and Freerchouses,
Castles, towres, and piles,
Market townes,

Villages,

Mylnes,

Spytells and hospitals,

7 16

5

243

13

3

set; but those of the higher part of the Marches | slain, the Scottish, with an unextinguishable thirst remained among their mountains, meditating re- for blood, purchased those of the French; parting venge. A similar incursion was made on the West willingly with their very arms in exchange for an Borders by Lord Wharton, who, with five thousand English captive. "I myself," says Beaugue, with men, ravaged and overran Annandale, Nithsdale, military sang-froid, "I myself sold them a prisoner and Galloway, compelling the inhabitants to receive for a small horse. They laid him down upon the the yoke of England.* ground, galloped over him with their lances in rest, The arrival of French auxiliaries, and of French and wounded him as they passed. When slain, gold, rendered vain the splendid successes of the Eng- they cut his body in pieces, and bore the mangled Ish. One by one, the fortresses which they occu- gobbets, in triumph, on the points of their spears. I pied were recovered by force, or by stratagem; and cannot greatly praise the Scottish for this practice. the vindictive cruelty of the Scottish Borderers But the truth is, that the English tyrannized over made dreadful retaliation for the injuries they had the Borders in a most barbarous manner; and I sustained. An idea may be conceived of this horri- think it was but fair to repay them, according to ble warfare from the Memoirs of Beaugué, a French the proverb, in their own coin."-Campagnes de officer, serving in Scotland. Beaugué, (livre iii. chap. 13.)

The Castle of Fairnihirst, situated about three A peace, in 1551, put an end to this war; the most miles above Jedburgh, had been taken and garrison-destructive which, for a length of time, had ravaged ed by the English. The commander and his follow- Scotland. Some attention was paid by the governor ers are accused of such excesses of lust and cruelty, and queen mother, to the administration of justice "as would," says Beaugue, "have made to tremble on the Border; and the chieftains, who had distinthe most savage Moor in Africa." A band of French-guished themselves during the late troubles, remen, with the Laird of Fairnihirst, and his Border-ceived the honour of knighthood." 1549

ers, assaulted this fortress. The English archers showered their arrows down the steep ascent leading to the castle, and from the outer wall by which it was surrounded. A vigorous escalade, however, gained the base court, and the sharp fire of the French arquebusiers drove the bowmen into the square keep, or dungeon, of the fortress. Here the English defended themselves, till a breach in the wall was made by mining. Through this hole the commandant creeped forth; and, surrendering himself to De la Mothe-rouge, implored protection from the vengeance of the Borderers. But a Scotush Marchman, eyeing in the captive the ravisher of his wife, approached him ere the French officer could guess his intention, and, at one blow, carried his head four paces from the trunk. Above a hundred Scots rushed to wash their hands in the blood of their oppressor, bandied about the severed head, and expressed their joy in such shouts, as if they had stormed the city of London. The prisoners, who fell into their merciless hands, were put to death, after their eyes had been torn out; the victors contending who should display the greatest address in severing their legs and arms, before inflicting a mortal wound. When their own prisoners were * Patten gives us a list of these East Border chiefs who did homaze to the Duke of Somerset, on the 24th of September, 1547; tamely, the Lairds of Cessforth. Fernyherst, Grenehead, Hunthall, Handely, Makerstone, Bymerside, Bounjedworth, Ormeston Melestaines, Warmesay, Synton, Egerston, Merton, Mowe, Rydell, Beamerside. Of gentlemen, he enumerates George Tromboul, Jhos Hahburton, Robert Car, Robert Car of Greyden, Adam Kirton, Andrew Mether, Saunders Purvose of Erleston, Mark Car of Littledean, George Car of Faldenside, Alexander Mackdowal, Charles Rutherford, Thomas Car of the Yere, Jhon Car of Meynthom, (Nenthorn) Walter Haliburton, Richard Hangansyde, Andrew Car, James Douglas of Cavers, James Car of Mersing: ton, George Hoppringle, William Ormeston of Emerden, John

Grymslowe. PATTEN, in DALYELL'S Fragments, p. 87.

On the West Border, the following barons and clans submitted, King of England, with the number of followers annexed to their

and cave pledges to Lord Wharton, that they would serve the

Barges

Annerdale-Laird of Kirkmighel, 222; Laird of Rose, 165; Laird of Hempsfield, 163: Laird of Home Ends, 162; Laird of Wamfrey, 102; Laird of Dunwoddy, 44; Laird of Newby and Gratney, 122; Laird of Tinnel (Tinwald.) 102; Patrick Murray, , Christie Erwin (Irving) of Coveshawe, 102; Cuthbert Urwen of Robbgill, 34; Urwens of Sennersack, 40; Wat Urwen, Jeffrey Urwen, 93; T. Johnston of Crackburn, 64; James Johnston of Coites, 162; Johnstons of Craggyland, 37; Johnstons of Dresdell, 46; Johnstons of Malinshaw, 65; Gawen Johnston, Will Johnston, the laird's brother, 110: Robin Johnston of Lochmaben, 67; Laird of Gillersbie, 30; Moffits, 24; Bells of) Testinta, 142; Bells of Tindills, 222; Sir John Lawson, 32; Town of Annan, 33'; Roomes of Tordephe, 32.-Nithsdale.-Mr. Maxwell and more, 1000; Laird of Closeburn, 403; Laird of Lag, 202; Laird of Cransfield, 27; Mr. Ed. Creighton, 10; Laird of Cowhill, $1; Maxwells of Brackenside, and Vicar of Carlaverick, 310.Annerdale and Galway-Lord Carlisle, 101-Annerdale and Chidsdale-Laird of Applegirth, 242-Liddesdale and Debateable Land -Armstrongs, 300; Elwoods (Elliots,) 74; Nixons, 32. Galloway -Laird of Dawbaytie, 41; Orcherton, 111; Carlisle, 50: Loughenwar, 45; Tutor of Bombie, 140; Abbot of Newabber, 141: Town of Dumfries, 201; Town of Kircubric, 36.-Ti le-Laird of Drumlire, 364; Caruthers, 71; Trumbells, 12Eexdale-Battisons and Thomsons, 166.-Total, 7008 men under English assurance.-Nicolson, from Bell's MS. Introduction to History of Cumberland, p. 65.

1552

At this time, also, the Debateable Land, a tract of country, situated betwixt the Esk and Sarke, claimed by both kingdoms, was divided by royal commissioners, appointed by the two crowns. By their award, this land of contention was separated by a line, drawn from east to west, betwixt the rivers. The upper half was adjudged to Scotland, and the more eastern part to England. Yet the Debateable Land continued long after to be the residence of thieves and banditti, to whom its dubious state had afforded a desirable refuge.§ In 1557, a new war broke out, in which rencounters on the Borders were, as usual, numerous, and with varied success. In some of these, the too-famous Bothwell is said to have given proofs of his courage, which was at other times very questionable. About this time the Scottish Borderers seem to have acquired some ascendency over their southern neighbours.-STRYPE, vol. iii.—In 1559, peace was again restored.

The flame of reformation, long stifled in Scotland, now burst forth with the violence of a volcanic eruption. The siege of Leith was commenced by the combined forces of the Congregation and of England. The Borderers cared little about speculative points of religion, but they showed themselves much interested in the treasures which passed through their country, for payment of the English forces at Edinburgh. Much alarm was excited, lest the Marchers should intercept these weighty Protestant arguments; and it was, probably, by voluntarily imparting a share in them to Lord Home, that he became a sudden convert to the new faith.T

Upon the arrival of the ill-fated Mary in her native country, she found the Borders in a state of great disorder. The exertions of her natural brother (afterwards the famous Regent Murray) were neCessary to restore some degree of tranquillity. He

[The Maitland Club of Glasgow printed, in 1830, a beautiful edition of the "Histoire de la Guerre d'Ecosse, par Ian de Beaugué, gentilhomme Francois."-ED.]

These were the Lairds of Buccleuch, Cessford, and Fairnihirst, Littleden, Grenehed, and Coldingknows. Buccleuch, whose gallant exploits we have noticed, did not long enjoy his new honours. He was murdered in the streets of Edinburgh by his hereditary enemies, the Kerrs, anno 1552.

The jest of James VI. is well known, who, when a favourite cow had found her way from London, back to her native country of Fife, observed, "that nothing surprised him so much as her passing uninterrupted through the Debateable Land!"

He was Lord of Liddesdale, and keeper of the Hermitage Castle. But he had little effective power over that country, and was twice defeated by the Armstrongs, its lawless inhabitants. Border History, p. 584. Yet the unfortunate Mary, in her famous Apology, says, "that in the weiris against Ingland, he gaif proof of his valyentnes, courage, and gude conduct;" and praises him especially for subjugating "the rebellious subjectis inhabiting the cuntreis lying ewest the marches of Ingland.' -Keith, p. 388. He appears actually to have defeated Sir Henry Percy, in a skir mish, called the Raid of Haltwellswire.

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This nobleman had, shortly before, threatened to spoil the English East March; but," says the Duke of Norfolk, we have provided such sauce for him, that I think he will not deal in such matter; but, if he do fire but one hay-goff, he shall not go to Home again without torchlight, and, peradventure, may find a lanthorn at his own house."

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