When Common Thift is executed, (which is performed upon the stage,) Falset, (Falsehood,) who is also brought forth for punishment, pronounces over him the following elegy: "Waes me for thee, gude Common Thift ! His living for to win: Thair wes not, in all Liddesdaill, Whar thou hingis on that pin!" PINKERTON's Scottish Poems, vol. ii. p. 194. Sir Richard Maitland, incensed at the boldness and impunity of the thieves of Liddesdale in his time, has attacked them with keen iambics. His satire, which, I suppose, had very little effect at the time, forms No. III. of the Appendix to this Introduction. The Borderers had, in fact, little reason to regard the inland Scots as their fellow-subjects, or to respect the power of the Crown. They were frequently resigned, by express compact, to the bloody retaliation of the English, without experiencing any assistance from their prince, and his more immediate subjects. If they beheld him, it was more frequently in the character of an avenging judge than of a protecting sovereign. They were in truth, during the time of peace, a kind of outcasts, against whom the united powers of England and Scotland were often employed. Hence, the men of the Borders had little attachment to their monarchs, whom they termed, in derision, the Kings of Fife and Lothian; provinces which they were not legally entitled to inhabit, and which, therefore, they pillaged with as little remorse as if they had belonged to a foreign country. This strange, precarious, and adventurous mode of life, led by the Borderers, was not without its pleasures, and seems, in all probability, hardly so disagreeable to us, as the monotony of regulated society must have been to those who had been long accustomed to a state of rapine. Well has it been remarked, by the eloquent Burke, that the shifting tides of fear and hope, the flight and pursuit, the peril and escape, alternate famine and feast, of the savage and the robber, after a time render all course of slow, steady, progressive, unvaried occupation, and the prospect only of a limited mediocrity, at the end of long labour, to the last degree tame, languid, and insipid. The interesting nature of their exploits may be conceived from the account of Camden. "What manner of cattle-stealers they are that inhabit these valleys in the Marches of both kingdoms, John Lesly, a Scotchman himself, and Bishop of Ross, will inform you. They sally out of their own Borders, in the night, in troops, through unfrequented by-ways, and many intricate windings. All the daytime they refresh themselves and their horses in lurking holes they had pitched upon before, till they arrive in the dark at those places they have a design upon. As soon as they have seized upon the booty, they, in like manner, return home in the night, through blind ways, and fetching many a compass. The more skilful any captain is to pass through those wild deserts, crooked turnings, and deep precipices, in the thickest mists and darkness, his reputation is the greater, and he is looked upon as a man of an excellent head. And they are so very cunning, that they seldom have their booty taken from them, unless sometimes, when, by the help of blood-hounds, following them exactly upon the track, they may chance to fall into the hands of their adversaries. When being taken, they have so much persuasive eloquence, and so many smooth insinuating words at command, that if they do not move their judges, nay, and even their adversaries (notwithstanding the severity of their natures) to have mercy, yet they incite them to admiration and compassion. "-CAMDEN's Britannia. The reader is requested to compare this curious account, given by Lesley, with the ballad called Hobbie Noble. The inroads of the Marchers, when stimulated only by the desire of plunder, were never marked with cruelty, and seldom even with bloodshed, unless in the case of opposition. They held, that property was common to all who stood in want of it; but they abhorred and avoided the crime of unnecessary homicide.-LESLEY, p. 63. This was, perhaps, partly owing to the habits of intimacy betwixt the Borderers of both kingdoms, notwithstanding their mutual hostility and reciprocal depredations. A natural intercourse took place between the English and Scottish Marchers, at Border meetings, and during the short intervals of peace. They met frequently at parties of the chase and foot-ball; and it required many and strict regulations, on both sides, to prevent them from forming intermarriages, and from cultivating too close a degree of intimacy.-Scottish Acts, 1587, c. 105; WHARTON'S Regulations, 6th Edward VI. The custom, also, of paying blackmail, or protection-rent, introduced a connexion betwixt the countries; for a Scottish Borderer, taking black-mail from an English inhabitant, was not only himself bound to abstain from injuring such person, but also to maintain his quarrel, and recover his property, if carried off by others. Hence, a union arose betwixt the parties, founded upon mutual interest, which counteracted, in many instances, the effects of national prejudice. The similarity of their manners may be inferred from that of their language. In an old mystery, imprinted at London, 1654, a mendicant Borderer is introduced, soliciting alms of a citizen and his wife. To a question of the latter he replies, Savying your honour, good maistress, I was born in Redesdale, in Northumberlande, and come of a wight riding surname, call'd the Robsons: gude honeste men, and true, savying a little shiftynge for theyr livyng: God help them, silly pure men." The wife answers, "What doest thou here, in this countrie? me thinke thou art a Scot by thy tongue.”—Beggar. Trowe me never mair then, good deam; I had rather be hanged in a withie of a cowtaile, for thei are ever fare and fause."-Appendix to Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd, Edit. 1783, p. 188. From the wife's observation, as well as from the dialect of the beggar, we may infer that there was little difference between the Northumbrian and the border Scottish; a circumstance interesting in itself, and decisive of the occasional friendly intercourse among the Marchmen. From all these combining circumstances arose the lenity of the Borderers in their incursions, and the equivocal moderation which they * By an act 1587, c. 96, Borderers are expelled from the inland counties, unless they can find security for their quiet deportment. * The following tradition is also illustrative of Lesley's account. Veitch of Dawyk, a man of great strength and bravery, who flourished in the 16th century, is said by tradition to have been upon bad terms with a neighbouring proprietor, Tweedie of Drummelzier, dwelling also near the source of Tweed. By some accident a flock of Dawyk's sheep had strayed over into Drommelzier's grounds, at the time when Dickie of the Den, a Liddesdale outlaw, was making his rounds in Tweeddale. Seeing this flock of sheep, be drove them off without ceremony. Next morning, Veitch, perceiving his loss, summoned bis servants and retainers, laid a blood-bound upon the traces of the robber, by whom they were guided for many miles, till, on the banks of Liddel, the dog stayed upon a very large hay-stack. The pursuers were a good deal surprised at the obstinate pause of the blood-hound, till Dawyk pulled down some of the hay, and discovered a large excavation, containing the robber and his spoil. He instantly flew upon Dickie, and was about to poniard him, when the marauder, with the address noticed by Lesley, protested that he would never have touched a cloot (hoof) of the booty, had he not taken them for Drummelzier's property. This dexterous appeal to Veitch's passions saved the life of the freebooter. some times observed towards each other in open war.' This humanity and moderation was, on certain occasions, entirely laid aside by the Borderers. In the case of deadly feud, either against an Englishman, or against any neighbouring tribe, the whole force of the offended clan was bent to avenge the death of any of their number. Their vengeance not only vented itself upon the homicide and his family, but upon all his kindred, on his whole tribe; and on every one, in fine, whose death or ruin could affect him with regret.-LESLEY, p. 63; Border Laws, passim; Scottish Acts, 1594, c. 231. The reader will find, in the following collection, many allusions to this infernal custom, which always overcame the Marcher's general reluctance to shed human blood, and rendered him remorselessly savage. For fidelity to their word, Lesley ascribes high praise to the inhabitants of the Scottish frontier. Robert Constable (himself a traitorous spy) describes the outlaws, who were his guides into Scotland, as men who would not hesitate to steal, yet would betray no man that trusted in them, for all the gold in Scotland or France. "They are my guides," said he; "and outlaws who might gain their pardon by surrendering me, yet I am secure of their fidelity, and have often proved it." Indeed, when an instance happened of breach of faith, the injured person, at the first Border meeting, rode through the field, displaying a glove (the pledge of faith) upon the point of his lance, and proclaiming the perfidy of the person who had broken his word. So great was the indignation of the assembly against the perjured criminal, that he was often slain by his own clan, to wipe out the disgrace he had brought on them. In the same spirit of confidence, it was not unusual to behold the victors, after an engagement, dismiss their prisoners upon parole, who never failed either to transmit the stipulated ransom, or to surrender themselves to bondage, if unable to do so. But the virtues of a barbarous people being founded, not upon moral principle, but upon the dreams of superstition, or the capricious dictates of ancient custom, can seldom be uniformly relied on. We must not, therefore, be surprised to find these very men, so true to their word in general, using, upon other occasions, various resources of cunning and chicane, against which the Border Laws were in vain directed. the different clans, who exercised over their respective septs a dominion partly patriarchal and partly feudal. The latter bond of adherence was, however, the more slender; for, in the acts regulating the Borders, we find repeated mention of "Clannes having captaines and chieftaines, whom on they depend, oft-times against the willes of their landelordes."-Stat. 1587, c. 95, and the roll thereto annexed. Of course, these laws looked less to the feudal superior than to the chieftain of the name, for the restraint of the disorderly tribes; and it is repeatedly enacted, that the head of the clan should be first called upon to deliver those of his sept, who should commit any trespass, and that, on his failure to do so, he should be liable to the injured party in full redress. Ibidem. and Stat. 1574, c. 231. By the same statutes, the chieftains and landlords, presiding over Border clans, were obliged to find caution, and to grant hostages, that they would subject themselves to the due course of law. Such clans as had no chieftain of sufficient note to enter bail for their quiet conduct, became broken men, outlawed to both nations. From these enactments, the power of the Border chieftains may be conceived; for it had been hard and useless to have punished them for the trespass of their tribes, unless they possessed over them unlimited authority. The abodes of these petty princes by no means corresponded to the extent of their power. We do not find, on the Scottish Borders, the splendid and extensive baronial castles which graced and defended the opposite frontier. The Gothic grandeur of Alnwick, of Raby, and of Naworth, marks the wealthier and more secure state of the English nobles. The Scottish chieftain, however extensive his domains, derived no pecuniary advantage, save from such parts as he could himself cultivate or occupy. Payment of rent was hardly known on the Borders, till after the Union of 1603. All that the landlord could gain, from those residing upon his estate, was their personal service in battle, their assistance in labouring the land retained in his natural possession, some petty quit rents of a nature resembling the feudal casualties, and perhaps a share in the spoil which they acquired by rapine. 3 This, with his herds of cattle and of sheep, and with the black-mail which he exacted from his neighbours, constituted the revenue of the chief The immediate rulers of the Borders were the chiefs of tain; and, from funds so precarious, he could rarely spare This practice of the Marchmen was observed and reprobated by Patten, "Another manner have they [the English Borderers ] amoong them, of wearyng bandkerchers roll'd about their armes, and letters brouder'd [ embroidered ] upon their cappes: they said themselves, the use thearof was that ech of them might knowe his fellowe, and thearbye the sooner assemble, or in nede to ayd one another, and such lyke respectes; howbeit thear wear of the army amoong us (some suspicious men perchance) that thought thei used them for collusion, and rather bycaus thei might be knowen to the enemie, as the enemies are knowen to them, for thei bave their markes too, and so in conflict either ech to spare oother, or gently eche to take other. Indede, men have been mooved the rather to thinke so, bycaus sum of their crosses [ the English red crosses] were so narrowe, and so singly set on, that a puffe of wynde might blowe them from their breastes, and that thei wear found right often talking with the Skottish prikkers within less than their gad's [ spear's] length asunder: and when the perceived thei had been espied, thei have begun one to run at anoolber, but so apparently perlassent in parley as the lookers on resembled their chasyng lyke the running at base in an uplondish toun, whear the match is made for a quart of good ale, or like the play in Robin Cookes scole [a fencing school], whear, bycaus the punies mey lerne, titel strike few strokes but by assent and appointment. I hard sum men say, it did mooch augment their suspicion that wey, bycaus at the battail they saw these prikkers so badly demean them, more intending the taking of prisoners, than the surety of victorye; for while oother men fought, thei fell to their prey; that as thear wear but fewe of them but brought home his prisoner, so wear thear many that had six or seven."— PATTEN'S Account of Somerset's Expedition, apud DALYELL's Fragments, p. 76. It is singular that, about this very period, the same circumstances are severally animadverted upon by the strenuous Scottishman, who wrote the Complaint of Scotland, as well as by the English author above quoted: "There is nothing that is occasione of your adhering to the opinion of Ingland contrair your natife cuntré, bot the grit familiarite that Inglis men and Scottes lies had on baith the Boirdours, ilk ane with utheris, in merchandeis, in selling and buying hors and nolt, and scheip, outfang and infang, ilk ane amang utheris, the whilk familiarite is express contrar the lawis and consuetudis bayth of Ingland and Scotland. In auld tymis it was determit in the artiklis of the pace, be the twa wardanis of the Boirdours of Ingland and Scotland, that there should be na familiarite betwix Scottis men, and Inglis men, nor marriage to be contrakit betwix them, nor conventions on holy dais at gammis and plays, nor merchandres to be maid among them, nor Scottis men till enter on Inglis grond, without the king of Ingland's save conduct, nor Inglis men till enter on Scottis grond, without the king of Scotland's save conduct, bow belt that ther war sure pace betwix the twa realmes. But thir sevyn yeir bygan, thai statutis and artiklis of the pace are adnuilit, for ther hes been as grit familiarite, and conventions, and makyng of merchandreis, on the Boirdours, this lang tyme betwix Inglis men and Scottis men, bayth in pace and weir, as Scottismen usis amang theme selfis within the realme of Scotland and sic familiarite hes bene the cause that the Kyng of Ingland gat intelligence with divers gentlemen of Scotland." Complayat of Scotland, Edin. 1801, p. 164. 2 Stowe, in detailing the happy consequences of the union of the crowns, observes," that the Northern Borders became as safe, and peaceable, as any part of the entire kingdome, so as in the fourthe year of the King's reigne, as well gentlemen and others inhabiting the places aforesayde, finding the auncient waste ground to be very good and fruitfull, began to contende in lawe about their bounds, challenging then, that for their hereditarie right, which formerly they disavowed, only to avoyde charge of common defence.” 3 "As for the humours of the people (i. e. of Teviotdale,) they were both strong and warlike, as being inured to war, and daily incursions, and the 2 Some rude monuments occur upon the Borders, the memorials of ancient valour. Such is the Cross at Milholm, on the banks of the Liddle, said to have been erected in memory of the Chief of the Armstrongs, murdered treacherously by Lord Soulis, while feasting in Hermitage castle. Such also is that rude stone, now broken, and very much defaced, placed upon a mount on the lands of Haughhead, near the junction of the Kale and the Teviot. The inscription records the defence made by Hobbie Hall, a man of great strength and courage, against an attempt of the powerful family of Ker, to possess themselves of his small estate.4 The same simplicity marked their dress and arms Patten observes, that in battle the laird could not be distinguished from the serf; all wearing the same coat-armour, called a jack, and the baron being only distinguished by his sleeves of mail and his head-piece. The Borderers, in general, acted as light cavalry, riding horses of a small size, but astonishingly nimble, and trained to move, by short bounds, through the morasses with which Scotland abounds. Their offensive weapons were, a lance of uncommon length; a sword, either two-handed, or of the modern sums to expend in strengthening or decorating his habitation. Another reason is found in the Scottish mode of warfare. It was early discovered, that the English surpassed their neighbours in the arts of assaulting and defending fortified places. The policy of the Scottish, therefore, deterred them from erecting upon the Borders buildings of such extent and strength, as, being once taken by the foe, would have been capable of receiving a permanent garrison. To themselves, the woods and hills of their country were pointed out by the great Bruce, as their safest bulwarks; and the maxim of the Douglasses, that, "it was better to hear the lark sing, than the mouse cheep," was adopted by every Border chief. For these combined reasons, the residence of the chieftain was commonly a large square battlemented tower, called a keep, or peel, placed on a precipice, or on the banks of a torrent, and, if the ground would permit, surrounded by a moat. In short, the situation of a Border house, encompassed by woods, and rendered almost inaccessible by torrents, by rocks, or by morasses, sufficiently indicated the pursuits and apprehensions of its inhabitants. -"Locus horroris et vastæ solitudinis, aptus ad prædam, habilis ad rapinam, habitatoribus suis lapis erat offensionis et petra scandali, utpote qui stipendiis suis | light_size; sometimes a species of battle-axe, called a Jedminime contenti, totum de alieno, parum de suo, possi-burgh-staff; and, latterly, dags or pistols. Although so debant-totius provinciæ spolium." No wonder, therefore, that James V., on approaching the castle of Lochwoodthe ancient seat of the Johnstones, is said to have exclaimed, “that he who built it must have been a knave in his heart." An outer wall, with some light fortifications, served as a protection for the cattle at night. The walls of these fortresses were of an immense thickness, and they could easily be defended against any small force; more especially, as, the rooms being vaulted, each story formed a separate lodgement, capable of being held out for a considerable time. On such occasions, the usual mode adopted by the assailants, was to expel the defenders, by setting fire to wet straw in the lower apartments. But the Border chieftains seldom chose to abide in person a siege of this nature; and I have scarce observed a single instance of a distinguished baron made prisoner in his own house. 3-PATTEN'S Expedition, p. 35. The common people resided in paltry huts, about the safety of which they were little anxious, as they contained nothing of value. On the approach of a superior force, they unthatched them, to prevent their being burned, and then abandoned them to the foe.-STOWE'S Chronicle, p. 665. Their only treasures were, a fleet and active horse, with the ornaments which their rapine had procured for the females of their family, of whose gay appearance the Borderers were vain. most part of the heritors of the country gave out all their lands to their ! tenants, for military attendance, upon rentals, and reserved only some few mainses for their own sustenance, which were laboured by their tenants, besides their service. They paid an entry, a herauld, and a small rentalduty; for there were no rents raised here that were considerable, till King James went into England; yea, all along the Border."-Account of Roxburghshire, by SIR WILLIAM SCOTT of Harden, and KERR of Sunlaws, apud MACFARLANE S MSS. The royal castles of Roxburgh, Hermitage, Lochmaben, etc., form a class of exceptions to this rule, being extensive and well fortilled. Perhaps we ought also to except the baronial castle of Home. Yet, in 1455, the following petty garrisons were thought sufficient for the protection of the Border; two hundred spearmen, and as many archers, upon the East and Middle Marches; and one hundred spears, with a like number of bowmen, upon the Western Marchres. But then the same statute provides, "That they are neare hand the Bordoure, are ordained to have gud bousehaldes, and abulzied men as effeiris; and to be reddie at their principal place, and to pass, with the wardanes, quhen and qubair they sall be charged."- Act of James II., eap. 55, of garrisons to be laid upon the Borders.-Hence Buchanan has justly described, as an attribute of the Scottish nation, "Nec fossis, nec muris, patriam, sed Marte tueri." so much accustomed to move on horseback, that they held it even mean to appear otherwise, the Marchmen occasionally acted as infantry; nor were they inferior to the rest of Scotland in forming that impenetrable phalanx of spears, whereof it is said, by an English historian, that “sooner shall a bare finger pierce through the skin of an angry hedge-hog, than any one encounter the brunt of their pikes." At the battle of Melrose, for example, Buccleuch's army fought upon foot. But the habits of the Borderers fitted them particularly to distinguish themselves as light cavalry; and hence the name of prickers and hobylers, so frequently applied to them. At the blaze of their beacon fires, they were wont to assemble ten thousand horsemen in the course of a single day. Thus rapid in their warlike preparations, they were alike ready for attack and defence. Each individual carried his own provisions, consisting of a small bag of oatmeal, and trusted to plunder, or the chase, for eking out his precarious repast. Beaugué remarks, that nothing surprised the Scottish cavalry so much as to see their French auxiliaries encumbered with baggage-waggons, and attended by commissaries. Before joining battle, it seems to have been the Scottish practice to set fire to the litter of their camp, while, under cover of the smoke, the hobylers, or Border cavalry, executed their manœuvres.There is a curious account of the battle of Mitton, fought 2 I have observed a difference in architecture betwixt the English and Scottish towers. The latter usually have upon the top a projecting battlement, with interstices, anciently called machicoules, betwixt the parapet and the wall, through which stones or darts might be hurled upon the assailants. This kind of fortification is less common on the South Border. 3 I ought to except the famous Dand Ker, who was made prisoner in his castle of Fairnihirst, after defending it bravely against Lord Dacres, 2ith September, 1523. 4 The rude strains of the inscription little correspond with the gallantry of a -"village Hampden, who, with dauntless breast, It is in these words: "Here Hobbie Hall boldly maintained his right, In two; and drove baith pleughs and ploughmen home.-1620." in the year 1319, in a valuable MS. Chronicle of England, in the collection of the Marquis of Douglas, from which this stratagem seems to have decided the engagement. "In meyn time, while the wer thus lastyd, the kynge went agane into Skotlonde, that hitte was wonder for to wette, and by sechd the towne of Barwick; but the Skottes went over the water of Sold, that was iii myle from the hoste, and prively the stole away by nyghte, and come into England, and robbed and destroyed all that they myght, and spared no manner thing til that they come to Yorke. And, whan the Englischemen, that were left at home, herd this tiding, all tho that myght well travell, so well monkys and priestis, and freres, and chanouns, and seculars, come and met with the Skottes at Mytone of Swale, the xii day of October. Allas, for sorrow for the Englischemen! housbondmen, that could nothing in wer, ther were quelled and drenchyd in an arm of the see. And hyr chyftaines, Sir William Milton, Ersch-bishop of Yorke, and the Abbot of Selby, with her stedes, fled and come into Yorke; and that was her owne folye that they had that mischaunce; for the passyd the water of Swale, and the Skottes set on fir three stalkes of hey, and the smoke thereof was so huge, that the Englischemen might not see the Skottes; and whan the Englischemen were gon over the water, tho cam the Skottes, with hir wyng, in maner of a sheld, and come toward the Englischemen in ordour. And the Englischemen fled for unnethe they had any use of armes, for the King had hem al almost lost att the sege of Barwick. And the Scotsmen hobylers went betwene the brigge and the Englischemen; and when the gret hoste them met, the Englischemen fled between the hobylers and the gret hoste; and the Englischemen wer ther quelled, and he that myght wend over the water were saved, but many were drowned. Alas! for there were slayn many men of religion, and seculars, and priestis, and clerks, and with much sorwe the Ersch-bishope scaped from the Skottes; and, therefore, the Skottes called that battel the White Battell." For smaller predatory expeditions, the Borderers had signals, and places of rendezvous, peculiar to each tribe. If the party set forward before all the members had joined, a mark, cut in the turf, or on the bark of a tree, pointed out to the stragglers the direction which the main body had pursued. Their warlike convocations were, also, frequently disguised, under pretence of meetings for the purpose of sport. The game of foot-ball, in particular, which was anciently, and still continues to be, a favourite Border sport, was the means of collecting together large bodies of moss-troopers, previous to any military exploit. When Sir Robert Carey was Warden of the East Marches, the knowledge that there was a great match at foot-ball at Kelso, to be frequented by the principal Scottish riders, was sufficient to excite his vigilance and his apprehension.3 Previous also to the murder of Sir John Carmichael, (see Notes on the Raid of the Reidswire,) it appeared at the trial of the perpetrators, that they had assisted at a grand foot-ball meeting, where the crime was concerted. Upon the religion of the Borderers there can very little be said. We have already noticed, that they remained attached to the Roman Catholic faith rather longer than the rest of Scotland. This probably arose from a total indifference upon the subject; for we nowhere find in their character the respect for the church, which is a marked feature of that religion. In 1528, Lord Dacre complains heavily to Cardinal Wolsey, that, having taken a notorious freebooter, called Dyk Irwen, the brother and friends of the outlaw had, in retaliation, seized a man of some property, and a relation of Lord Dacre, called Jeffrey Middleton, as he returned from a pilgrimage to St. Ninian's, in Galloway; and that, notwithstanding the sanctity of his character as a true pilgrim, and the Scottish monarch's safe conduct, they continued to detain him in their fastnesses, until he should redeem the said arrant thief, Dyk Irwen. The abbeys, which were planted upon the Border, neither seem to have been much respected by the English, nor by the Scottish barons. They were repeatedly burned by the former, in the course of the Border wars, and by the latter they seem to have been regarded chiefly as the means of endowing a needy relation, or the subject of occasional plunder. Thus, Andrew Home of Fastcastle, about 1488, attempted to procure a perpetual feu of certain possessions belonging to the Abbey of Coldinghame; and being baffled, by the King bestowing that opulent benefice upon the royal chapel at Stirling, the Humes and Hepburns started into rebellion; asserting, that the priory should be conferred upon some younger son of their families, according to ancient custom. After the fatal battle of Flodden, one of the Kers testified his contempt for clerical immunities and privileges, by expelling from his house the Abbot of Kelso. These bickerings betwixt the clergy and the barons were usually excited by disputes about their temporal interest. It was common for the churchmen to grant lands in feu to the neighbouring gentlemen, who, becoming their vassals, were bound to assist and protect them. But, as the possessions and revenues of the benefices became thus intermixed with those of the laity, any attempts rigidly to enforce the claims of the church were usually attended by the most scandalous disputes. A petty warfare was carried on for years, betwixt James, Abbot of Dryburgh, and the family of Halliburton of Mertoun, or Newmains, who held some lands from that abbey. These possessions were, under various pretexts, seized and laid waste by both parties; and some bloodshed took place in the contest, betwixt the lay vassals and their spiritual superior. The matter was, at length, thought of sufficient importance to be terminated by a reference to his Majesty; whose decree arbitral, dated at Stirling, the 8th of May, 1535, proceeds thus: "Whereas we have been advised and know the said gentlemen, the Halliburtons, to be leal and true honest men, long servants unto the saide abbeye, for the saide landis, stout men at armes, and goode Borderers against Ingland; We doe therefore decree and ordain, that they sall be repossess'd, and bruik and enjoy the landis and steedings they had of the said abbeye, paying the use and wonte: and that they sall be goode servants to the said venerabil father, like as they and their predecessours were to the said venerabil father, and his predecessours, and he a good master to them." 5 It is unne Now Duke of Hamilton, 1830. In the parish of Linton, in Roxburghshire, there is a circle of Stones, surrounding a smooth plot of turf, called the Tryst, or place of appointment, which tradition avers to have been the rendezvous of the neighbouring warriors. The name of the leader was cut in the turf, and the arrangement of the letters announced to his followers the course which he had taken. See Statistical Account of the Parish of Linton. 3 See Appendix. 4 These vassals resembled, in some degree, the Vidames in France, and the Vogten, or Vizedomen, of the German abbeys; but the system was never carried regularly into effect in Britain, and this circumstance facilitated the dissolution of the religious houses. 5 This decree was followed by a marriage betwixt the abbot's daughter, Elizabeth Stewart, and Walter Halliburton, one of the family of Newmains. But even this alliance did not secure peace between the venerable father and his vassals. The offspring of the marriage was an only daughter, named Elizabeth Halliburton. As this young lady was her father's heir, the Halliburtons resolved that she should marry one of her cousins, to keep her property in the clan. But as this did not suit the views of the abbot, he carried off by force the intended bride, and married her, at Stirling, to Alexander cessary to detain the reader with other instances of the discord which prevailed anciently upon the Borders, betwixt the spiritual shepherd and his untractable flock. The Reformation was late of finding its way into the Border wilds; for, while the religious and civil dissensions were at the height in 1568, Drury writes to Cecil,-"Our trusty neighbours of Teviotdale are holden occupied only to attend to the pleasure and calling of their own heads, to make some diversion in this matter." The influence of the reformed preachers, among the Borderers, seems also to have been but small; for, upon all occasions of dispute with the kirk, James VI. was wont to call in their assistance.CALDERWOOD, p. 129. We learn from a curious passage in the life of Richard Cameron, a fanatical preacher during the time of what is called the "persecution," that some of the Borderers retained to a late period their indifference about religious matters. After having been licenced at Haughhead, in Teviotdale, he was, according to his biographer, sent first to preach in Annandale. "He said, how can I go there? I know what sort of people they are.'-'But,' Mr. Welch said, 'go your way, Ritchie, and set the fire of hell to their tails.' He went; and, the first day, he preached upon that text, How shall I put thee among the children, etc. In the application, he said, 'Put you among the children! the offspring of thieves and robbers! we have all heard of Annandale thieves.' Some of them got a merciful cast that day, and told afterwards, that it was the first field-meeting they ever attended, and that they went out of mere curiosity, to see a minister preach in a tent, and people sit on the ground."-Life of Richard Cameron. 1 Cleland, an enthusiastic Cameronian, lieutenant-colonel of the regiment levied after the Revolution from among that wild and fanatical sect, claims for the wandering preachers of his tribe the merit of converting the Borderers. He introduces a cavalier haranguing the Highlanders, and ironically thus guarding them against the fanatic divines : If their doctrine there get rooting, Then, farewell theift, the best of booting. Dayly experience makes it appear; Where there was nought but theft and murders, Slight of hand in fortunes getting, Their designation, as ye ken, Was all along the Taking Men. Now, rebels more prevails with words, The poet of the Whigs might exaggerate the success of their teachers; yet it must be owned, that the doctrine of insubordination, joined to their vagrant and lawless habits, was calculated strongly to conciliate Border hearers. But, though the church, in these frontier counties, attracted little veneration, no part of Scotland teemed with superstitious fears and observances more than they did. "The Dalesmen," says Lesley, "never count their beads with such earnestness as when they set out upon a predatory expedition." Penances, the composition betwixt guilt and conscience, were also frequent upon the Borders. Of this we have a record in many bequests to the church, and in some more lasting monuments; such as the Tower of Repentance, near Hoddam Castle, in Dumfries-shire, and, according to vulgar tradition, the church of Linton,3 in Roxburghshire. In the Appendix to this Introduction, No. IV., the reader will find a curious league, or treaty of peace, betwixt two hostile clans, by which the heads of each became bound to make the four pilgrimages of Scotland, for the benefit of the souls of those of the opposite clan, who had fallen in the feud. These were superstitions, flowing immediately from the nature of the Catholic religion; but there was, upon the Border, no lack of others of a more general nature. Such was the universal belief in spells, of which some traces may yet remain in the wild parts of the country. These were common in the days of the learned Bishop Nicolson, who derives them from the time of the Pagan Danes. "This conceit was the more heightened, by reflecting upon the natural superstition of our Borderers at this day, who were much better acquainted with, and do more firmly believe, their old legendary stories, of fairies and witches, than the articles of their creed. And to convince me, yet farther, that they are not utter strangers to the black art of their forefathers, I met with a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who showed me a book of spells and magical receipts, taken, two or three days before, in the pocket of one of our mosstroopers: wherein, among many other conjuring feats, was prescribed a certain remedy for an ague, by applying a few barbarous characters to the body of the party distempered. These, methought, were very near a-kin to Wormius's Ram Runer, which, he says, differed wholly in figure and shape from the common runæ. For, though he tells us that these Ram Runer, were so called, Eo quod molestias, dolores, morbosque hisce infligere inimicis soliti sunt magi; yet his great friend, Arng. Jonas, more to our purpose, says, that-His etiam usi sunt ad benefaciendum, medicandum tam animi quam corporis morbis; atque ad ipsos cacodæmones pellendos et fugandos. I shall not trouble you with a draught of this spell, because I have not yet had an opportunity of learning whether it may not be an ordinary one, and to be met with, among others of the same nature, in Paracelsus, or Cornelius Agrippa."-Letter from Bishop Nicolson to Mr. Walker; vide Camden's Brittannia, Cumberland. Even in the Editor's younger days, he can Erskine, a brother of the Laird of Balgony, a relation and follower of his own. From this marriage sprung the Erskines of Shielfield. This exploit of the abbot revived the feud betwixt him and the Halliburtons, which only ended with the dissolution of the abbey.-MS. History of Halyburton Family, penes editoṛem.—[ This history of the family, a principal branch of which Sir W. S. bimself represented, was printed (not published) by him, with an Introduction and Notes, in 1820.—ED.] This man was for a short time chaplain in the family of Sir Walter Scott of Harden, who attended the meetings of the indulged Presbyterians; but Cameron, considering this conduct as a compromise with the foul fiend Episcopacy, was dismissed from the family. He was slain in a skirmish at Airdsmoss, bequeathing his name to the sect of fanatics still called Came districts; as Teviotdale, Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewsdale, Annandale, etc. Hence, an old ballad distinguishes the north as the country, "Where every river gives name to a dale." 3 This small church is founded upon a little hill of sand, in which no stone of the size of an egg is said to have been found, although the neighbouring soil is sharp and gravelly. Tradition accounts for this, by informing us, that the foundresses were two sisters, upon whose account much blood had been spilt on that spot; and that the penance imposed on the fair causers of the slaughter, was an order from the Pope to sift the sand of the hill, upon which their church was to be erected. This story may, perhaps, have some foundation; for in the churchyard was discovered a single grave, containing no fewer than fifty skulls, most of which bore the marks of having been cleft by violence. |