64 As four o' their braid backs dows bear." Away, away, thou traitor strang! And now I'll not begin wi' thee!"- As a' thair happers dow to bear."- And now I'll not begin wi' thee."- "Away, away, thou traitor strang! Out of my sight soon mayst thou be! And now I'll not begin wi' thee." Away, away, thou traitor strang! I weel dare say it, but honesty 66 Save a fat horse, and a fair woman, But England suld have found me meal and mault, "She suld have found me meal and mault, And beef and mutton in a' plentie; But never a Scots wyfe could have said, That e'er I skaith'd her a puir flee. "To seik het water beneith cauld ice, I have asked grace at a graceless face, them free and hospitable in their expenditure; and the common danger bound the several clans together by assurances of inviolawe seem to be reading the description of a Tartarian or Arabic ble fidelity, and even softened their mutual hostility, by the tacit tribe, and can scarcely persuade ourselves that this country conintroduction of certain laws of honour and of war. In these traits, tained, within these two centuries, so exact a prototype of the Bedouin character."-Edinburgh Review (Sir John Stoddart) for February, 1803.] Sir Walter Scott most delighted to quote.-ED.] **[This and the three preceding stanzas were among those that "But had I kenn'd ere I cam frae hame, "Wist England's King that I was ta'en, And on his breist bane brak a trie." John wore a girdle about his middle, There hang nine targats* at Johnie's hat, That blinkt sae brawly abune thy brie ?""I gat them in the field fechting, Where, cruel King, thou durst not be. It suld have been tauld this hundred yeir, Ere thou see thy brother ride up and down! "And God be with thee, Kirsty, my son, Thy father's better thou'lt never be. But Scotland's heart was ne'er sae wae, Nane of them durst cum neir his hauld. rane lord the King, allanerly except; and to be trewe, gude, and lele servant to my said lord, and be ready to do him service, baith in pece and weir, with all my kyn, friends, and servantes, that I may and dowe to raise, and beand to my said lord's airis for evermair. And sall tak his true and plane part in all maner of actions at myn outer power, and sall nouther wit, hear, nor se my said lordis skaith, lak, nor dishonestie, but we sall stop and lett the samyn, and geif we dowe not lett the sanryn, we sall warn him thereof in all possible haist; and geif it happenis me, the said Johne Armistrang, or myne airís, to fail in our said service and manrent, any manner of way, to our said lord, (as God forbid we do,) than, and in that caiss, the gift and nonentre's maid be him to us, of the said landis of Dalbetht, Schield, Dalblane, Stapil-Gortown, Langholme, and *** ** *, with the pertinentis, to be of no avale, force, nor effect; but the said lord and his airis to have free regress and ingress to the nonentres of the samyn, but ony pley or impediment. To the keeping and fulfilling of all and sundry the premisses, m form above writtin, I bind and obliss me and my airis foresaids, to the said lord and his airis for evermare, be the faithis treuthis in our bodies, but fraud or gile. In witness of the whilk thing, to thir letters of manrent subscrievit, with my hand at the pen, my sele is hangin, at Dumfries, the secund day of November, the yeir of God, MD. and XXV. yeiris. JOHNE ARMISTRANG, with my hand at the pen. ran The lands, here mentioned, were the possession's of Armstrong himself, the investitures of which not having been regularly renewed, the feudal casualty of non-entry had been incurred by the vassal. The brother of Johne Armstrong is said to have founded, or rather repaired, Langholm castle, before which, as mentioned in the ballad, verse 5th, they their horse," and "brak their spears," in the exercise of Border chivalry.-Account of the Parish of Langholm, apud Macfarlane's MSS. The lands of Langholm and Staplegorton continued in Armstrong's family; for there is in the same MS. collection a similar bond of manrent, granted by "Cristofer Armstrang, calit Johne's Pope," on 24th January, 1557, to Lord Johne Lord Maxwell, and to Sir Johne Maxwell of Terreglis, Knight, his tutor and governor, in return for the gift "of the males of all and haill the landis whilk are conteint in ane bond made by umquhile Johne Armistrang, my father, to umquhile Robert, Lord Maxwell, gudshore to the said Johne, now Lord Maxwell." It would therefore the feudal penalty arising from his having neglected Armstrong, had been the price of his release from to procure a regular investiture from his superior. As Johne only touched the pen, it appears that he could not write. SUPPLEMENT TO THE BALLAD OF JOHNIE ARMSTRANG. THE Editor believes his readers will not be disappear, that the bond of manrent, granted by John pleased to see a Bond of Manrent, granted by this Border freebooter to the Scottish Warden of the West Marches, in return for the gift of a feudal casualty of certain lands particularized. It is extracted from Syme's Collection of Old Writings, MS., penes Dr. Robert Anderson, of Edinburgh." Bond of Manrent. Be it kend till all men, be thir present letters, me, Johne Armistrang, for to be bound and oblist, and be the tenor of thir present letters, and faith and trewth in my body, lelie and trewlie, bindis and oblissis me and myn airis, to ane nobil and mich tie lord, Robert Lord Maxwell, Wardane of the West Marches of Scotland, that, forasmikle as my said lord has given and grantit to me, and mine airs perpetuallie, the non-entries of all and haill the landis underwritten, that is to say, the landis of Dalbetht, Shield, Dalblane, Stapil-Gortown, Langholme, and with their pertindis, lyand in the lordship of Eskdale, as his gift maid to me, thereupon beris in the self: and that for all the tyme of the nonentres of the samyn. Theirfor, I, the said Johnne Armistrang, bindis and oblissis me and myne airis, in manrent and service to the said Robert Lord Maxwell and his airis, for evermair, first and before all uthirs, myne allegiance to our sove • Targats-Tassels, Christopher Armstrong, above mentioned, is the person alluded to in the conclusion of the ballad"God be with thee, Kirsty, my son." He was the father, or grandfather, of William Armstrong, called Christie's Will, a renowned freebooter, some of whose exploits the reader will find recorded in another part of this volume. Mr. Ellis of Otterbourne has kindly pointed out the following instance of the ferocity of the Armstrongs, which occurs in the confession of one John Weir, a prisoner in the tolbooth of Edinburgh, under sentence of death, in 1700: "In May, 1700, John Weire went to Grandee Knows, (near Haltwhistle, in Northumberland,) to the mother of the four brethren the Armstrongs, which Armstrongs, and the aforesaid Burley, did cut the tongue and ear out of William Turner, for informing that they were bad persons, which Turner wrote with his blood that they had used him so."-Weire also mentions one Thomas Armstrong, called Luck i' the Bagg, who lived in Cumberland. The extent of their depredations in horse-stealing seems to have been astomishing. ↑ Blink sac drawlie-Glance so bravely, : Christopher. LORD EWRIE. SIR RALPH EVRE, or Ewrie, or Evers, commemorated in the following lines, was one of the bravest men of a military race. He was son of the first, and father of the second Lord Ewrie; and was himself created a Lord of Parliament during his father's lifetime, in the 35th year of Henry VIII. The ballad is apparently a strain of gratulation upon that event. The poet, or more probably the reciter, has made some confusion in the lineage, by declaring that his hero was 16 married upon a Willoughbé." His mother, however, was of that family, and he was kin to the Nevil and to the Percy." He was ennobled by Henry, on account of the vigour with which he prosecuted the Border warfare. But after harrying the Mers and Tiviotdale, and knocking at Edinburgh gate," Lord Ewrie was slain in the battle of Ancram Moor, fought between him and the Earl of Angus, in 1546.* See note to the Eve of 'St. John,-post. This song was written down by my obliging friend, Richard Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth,t from the recitation of Rose Smith, of Bishop Middleham, a woman aged upwards of ninety-one, whose husband's father and two brothers were killed in the affair of 1715. LORD EWRIE. LORD EWRIE was as brave a man A knighte's son sooth to say; He is kin to the Nevill and to the Percy, A noble Knight him trained upp, Sir Rafe Bulmer is the man I mean ;§ At Flodden field, as men do say, No better capten there was seen. He led the men of Bishopricke, When Thomas Ruthal bore the sway: And since he has kepte Berwick upon Tweed, And grain and grass was sown and won; When Lord Ewrie kept Berwick town. It were well if every nobleman THE LOCHMABEN HARPER. NOW FIRST PUBLISHED. [1802.] THE Castle of Lochmaben was formerly a noble building, situated upon a peninsula, projecting into one of the four lakes which are in the neighbourhood of the royal burgh, and is said to have been the re [He was buried in Melrose Abbey, and his stone coffin may still be seen there--a little to the left of the Great Altar.-ED.] (The author of the history of Durham.-ED.) Patent letters of nobility. Sir William Bulmer, of Burnspeth Castle, who is here said to have commanded the troops raised in the Bishopric, in the battle of Floddenfield, was descended from an ancient, and, at one period, noble family. The last who was summoned to Parlia mont as a Fecr of the realm, was Ralph, from first till 23d Ed ward III. Sir William routed the Borderers, who, under the com sidence of Robert Bruce, while Lord of Annandale. Accordingly it was always held to be a royal fortress, the keeping of which, according to the custom of the times, was granted to some powerful lord, with an allotment of lands and fishings, for the defence and maintenance of the place. There is extant a grant, dated 16th March, 1511, to Robert Lauder of the Bass, of the office of Captain and keeper of Lochmaben Castle, for seven years, with many perquisites. Among others, the lands stolen frae the King," are bestowed on the Captain, as his proper lands. What shall we say of a country, where the very ground was a subject of theft? THE LOCHMABEN HARPER. O HEARD ye na o' the silly blind Harper, Wi' a the haste that he could thole-** Quo' she-"Thou hast a gude gray mare, So he is up to England gane, And even as fast as he may drie ;tt And when he cam to Carlisle gate, O whae was there but the Warden hie? Come into my hall, thou silly blind Harper, And of thy harping let me hear!""O, by my sooth," quo' the silly blind Harper, "I wad rather hae stabling for my mare.' The Warden look'd ower his left shoulder, Then aye he harped, and aye he carped, # But an the music was sae sweet, The groom had nae mind o' the stable door. And aye he harped, and aye he carped, There he fand thirty steeds and three. But kept him a-galloping hame to her foal The mare she was right swift o' foot, For she was at Lochmaben gate Then up she rose, put on her clothes, Now all this while in merry Carlisle The Harper harped to hie and law; And the fiend dought they dot but listen him to, But on the morn at fair daylight, When they had ended a' their cheer, Behold the Wanton Brown was gane, And eke the poor blind Harper's mare! "Allace! allace!" quo' the cunning auld Harper, *And ever allace that I cam here; In Scotland I hae lost a braw cowt foal, In England they've stown my gude gray mare!" "Come! cease thy allacing, thou silly blind Harper, And again of thy harping let us hear; And weel payd sall thy cowt-foal be, And thou sall have a far better mare.' Then aye he harped, and aye he carped; JAMIE TELFER. OF THE FAIR DODHEAD. THERE is another ballad, under the same title as the following, in which nearly the same incidents are narrated, with little difference, except that the honour of rescuing the cattle is attributed to the Liddesdale Elliots, headed by a Chief, there called Martin Elliot of the Preakin Tower, whose son, Simon, is said to have fallen in the action. It is very possible, that both the Teviotdale Scotts, and the Elliots, were engaged in the affair, and that each elaimed the honour of the victory. The Editor presumes, that the Willie Scott, here mentioned, must have been a natural son of the Laird of Buccleuch. • Wed my hail fee-Bet my whole wages. Frend dought they do-Nothing could they do. 1 The only remark which offers itself on the foregoing ballad seems to be, that it is the most modern in which the harp, as a Border instrument of music, is found to occur. JAMIE TELFER. Ir fell about the Martinmas tyde, When our Border steeds get corn and hay, The first ae guide that they met wi', It was laigh down in Borthwick water. And ranshackled** the house right weel. The Captain turned him round and leugh; That hardly now would fell a mouse."-- Jamie has turned him round about, From ly prevailed in an action before the Court of Session. The kindly tenants of Lochmaben live (or at least lived till lately) much sequestered from their neighbours, marry among themselves, and are distinguished from each other by soubri quets, according to the ancient Border custom, repeatedly noticed. You meet among their writings, with such names as John Out-bye, Will In-hye, White fish, Red fish, &c. They are tenaciously obstinate in defence of their privileges of commonty, &c. which are numerous. Their lands are, in general, neatly enclosed, and well cultivated, and they form a contented and industrious little community. I cannot dismiss the subject of Lochmaben, without noticing an extraordinary and anomalous class of landed proprietors, who dweil in the neighbourhood of that burgh. These are the inhabit ants of four small villages, near the ancient castle, called the Four Towns of Lochmaben. They themselves are termed the King's Rentallers, or kindly tenants; under which denomination each of them has a night, of an allodial nature, to a small piece of ground. It is said, that these people are the descendants of Robert Bruce's menials, to whom he assigned, in reward of their faithful service, these portions of land, burdened only with the parment of certain quit-rents, and grassums, or fines, upon the Many of these particulars are extracted from the MSS. of Mr. entry of a new tenant. The right of the rentallers is, in essence, Syme, writer to the signet. Those who are desirous of more ina night of property, but, in form, only a right of lease; of which formation, may consult Craig de Feudis, lib. ii. dig. 9. sec. 24. they appeal for the foundation to the rent-rolls of the lord of the It is hoped the reader will excuse this digression, though somecastle and manor. This possession, by rental, or by simple entry what professional; especially as there can be but little doubt that upon the rent-roll, was anciently a common, and peculiarly sa- this diminutive republic must soon share the fate of mightier cred, species of property, granted by a chief to his faithful follow-states; for, in consequence of the increase of commerce, lands ers, the connexion of landlord and tenant being esteemed of a possessed under this singular tenure, being now often brought to nature too necessary to be formal, where there was honour on the sale, and purchased by the neighbouring proprietors, will, in proone side, and gratitude upon the other. But, in the case of sub-cess of time, be included in their investitures, and the right of jects granting a night of this kind, it was held to expire with the rentallage be entirely forgotten. life of the granter, unless his heir chose to renew it; and also upon the death of the rentaller himself, unless especially granted to his heirs, by which term only his first heir was understood. Hence, in modern days, the kindly tenants have entirely disappeared from the land. Fortunately for the inhabitants of the Four Towns of Lochmaben, the maxim, that the king can never the, prevents their right of property from reverting to the crown. The Viscount of Stormonth, as royal keeper of the castle, did, indeed, about the beginning of last century, make an attempt to remove the rentallers from their possessions, or at least to procure judgment, finding them obliged to take out feudal investitures, and subject themselves to the casualties thereto annexed. But the rentallers united in their common defence and, having stated their immemorial possession, together with some favourable clauses in certain old acts of Parliament, enacting, that the King's poor kindly tenants of Lochmaben should not be hurt they final-Hawick. Hardhaughs wire is the pass from Liddesdale to the head of The Dodhead, in Selkirkshire, near Singlee, where there are still the vestiges of an old tower. **Ranshackled-Ransacked. There is still a family of Telfers, residing near Langholm, who pretend to derive their descent from the Telfers of the Dodhead. Gryming-Sprinkling. $5 Stobs Hall, upon Slitterick. [The seat of Sir William Eliott, Bart.-head of that clan.] Jamie Telfer made his first application here, because he seems to have paid the proprietor of the castle black-mail, or protection money. The ancient family-seat of the Lairds of Buccleuch, near Then up bespak him auld Jock Grieve- A harried man I trow I be. "There's naething left in the fair Dodhead, Was right weel fed with corn and hay, The Captain of Bewcastle has driven my gear; "Alas for wae!" quoth William's Wat, Alack, for thee my heart is sair! I never cam by the fair Dodhead, That ever I fand thy basket bare." He's set his twa sons on coal-black steeds, And they are on wi' Jamie Telfer, To Branksome Ha' to tak the fraye. Said-" Whae's this brings the fraye to me?"- But a greeting wife and bairnies three." "Alack for wae!" quoth the gude auld lord, But fye gar cry on Willie, my son, "Gar warn the waters braid and wide, And Gilmanscleugh, and Commonside. The gear was driven the Frostylee up, ** "O will ye let Telfer's kye gae back? Neither for thy love, nor yet thy fear; In spite of every Scott that's here."- And mony a comely cheek was pale. But Willie was stricken ower the head, Whan Willie on the grund lay slane. But he's ta'en aff his gude steel cap, And thrice he's waved it in the air- Or Willie's death revenged sall be."-*** The Coultart Cleugh is nearly opposite to Carlinrig, on the meat, at his Tower of Dryhope, for a year and a day; but five road between Hawick and Mosspaul. + Ca's-Calves. Minnie-Mother. The estates, mentioned in this verse, belonged to families of the name of Scott, residing upon the waters of Borthwick and Teviot, near the castle of their Chief barons pledge themselves, that, at the expiry of that period, the son-in-law should remove, without attempting to continue in posThe water, in the mountainous districts of Scotland, is often session by force! A notary public signed for all the parties to the used to express the banks of the river, which are the only inha-deed, none of whom could write their names. The original is bitable parts of the country. To raise the water, therefore, was still in the charter-room of the present Mr. Scott of Harden. By the Flower of Yarrow the Laird of Harden had six sons; five of to alarm those who lived along its side. whom survived him, and founded the families of Harden, (now extinct,) Highchesters, (now representing Harden,) Reaburn, Wool, and Synton. The sixth son was slain at a fray, in a hunting-match, by the Scotts of Gilmanscleugh. His brothers flew to arms; but the old laird secured them in the dungeon of his tower, hurried to Edinburgh, stated the crime, and obtained a gift of the lands of the offenders from the Crown. He returned to Harden with equal speed, released his sons, and showed them the "To horse, lads!" cried the savage warrior, "and let us take possession! The lands of Gilmanscleugh are well worth a dead son." The property thus obtained continued in the family till the beginning of last century, when it was sold, by John Scott of Harden, to Ann, Duchess of Buccleuch. A beautiful ballad, founded on this tradition, occurs in the Mountain Bard, a collection of legendary poetry, by Mr. James Hogg. TT The Dinlay-is a mountain in Liddesdale. The pursuers seem to have taken the road through the hills of Liddesdale, in order to collect forces, and intercept the forayers at the passage of the Liddel, on their return to Bewcastle. The Ritterford and Kershope-ford, after-mentioned, are noted fords on the river Liddel. **The Frostylee is a brook, which joins the Teviot, near Moss-charter. paul. Outspeckle-Laughing-stock. Toom-Empty. $$ Knapscap-Headpiece. Of this Border laird, commonly called Auld Wat of Harden, tradition has preserved many anecdotes. He was married to Mary Scott, celebrated in song by the title of the Flower of Yarrow. By their marriage-contract, the father-in-law, Philip Scott of Dryhope, was to find Harden in horse-meat, and man's *** [Nothing can be more striking than the picture of old Harden, in the fight for Jamie Telfer's cattle.-Edin, Rev.] |