B
Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 89, 1808, as recollected by a lady and communicated by Walter Scott.
1
As I came in by Fiddich-side,
In a May morning,
I met Willie Mackintosh,
An hour before the dawning.
2
‘Turn again, turn again,
Turn again, I bid ye;
If ye burn Auchindown,
Huntly he will head ye.’
3
‘Head me, hang me,
That sall never fear me;
I’ll burn Auchindown
Before the life leaves me.’
4
As I came in by Auchindown,
In a May morning,
Auchindown was in a bleeze,
An hour before the dawning.
* * * * *
5
Crawing, crawing,
For my crowse crawing,
I lost the best feather i my wing
For my crowse crawing.
A. b.
12. Turn, turn.
13. If you.
22. That winna.
3 wanting.
41. But wanting.
After 4:
Light was the mirk hour
At the day-dawing,
For Auchindoun was in flames
Ere the cock-crawing.
5, 6 wanting.
184
THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY
Glenriddell MSS, XI, 34, 1791.
‘Lads of Wamphray, ane old ballad, sometimes called The Galiard,’ is the superscription in the manuscript. Printed in Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 208, 1802, II, 148, 1833; with the omission of 4 and 36, the insertion of four verses after 8, two transpositions, and some changes of language.
“The following song celebrates the skirmish, in 1593, betwixt the Johnstones and Crichtons, which led to the revival of the ancient quarrel betwixt Johnstone and Maxwell, and finally to the battle of Dryffe Sands, in which the latter lost his life. Wamphray is the name of a parish in Annandale. Lethenhall was the abode of Johnstone of Wamphray, and continued to be so till of late years. William Johnstone of Wamphray, called the Galliard, was a noted freebooter. A place near the head of Teviotdale retains the name of the Galliard’s Faulds (folds), being a valley, where he used to secrete and divide his spoil with his Liddesdale and Eskdale associates. His nom de guerre seems to have been derived from the dance called the galliard. The word is still used in Scotland to express an active, gay, dissipated character. Willie of the Kirkhill, nephew to the Galliard, and his avenger, was also a noted Border robber.”
“Leverhay, Stefenbiggen, Girth-head, etc., are all situated in the parish of Wamphray. The Biddes-burn, where the skirmish took place betwixt the Johnstones and their pursuers, is a rivulet which takes its course among the mountains on the confines of Nithesdale and Annandale. The Wellpath is a pass by which the Johnstones were retreating to their fastnesses in Annandale. Ricklaw-holm is a place upon the Evan water, which falls into the Annan below Moffat. Wamphray-gate was in these days an alehouse.” Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 208 ff., ed. 1802.
This affair is briefly noticed in the Historie of King James the Sext in the following terms: “Sum unbrydlit men of Johnestons ... hapnit to ryd a steiling in the moneth of Julij this present yeir of God 1593, in the lands and territoreis pertening to the Lord Sanquhar and the knyghtis of Drumlanryg, Lag and Closburne, upon the watter of Nyth; whare, attoure the great reaf and spulye that thay tuik away with violent hand, thay slew and mutilat a great nomber of men wha stude for defence of thair awin geir and to reskew the same from the hands of sik vicious revers.”[[301]] P. 297.
It is hard to determine whether the first eight stanzas of the ballad are anything more than a prelude, and whether 5, 7 note the customary practice of the Lads of Wamphray, or anticipate, as is done in 3, certain points in the story which follows. The gap after 8 is filled by Scott with verses which describe the Galliard as incapable of keeping his hands from another man’s horse, and as having gone to Nithsdale to steal Sim Crichton’s dun. The Galliard makes an unlucky selection from the Crichton stable, and takes a blind horse instead of the coveted dun. Under the impression that he has the right beast, he calls out to Sim to come out and see a Johnstone ride. The Crichtons mount for pursuit; the Galliard sees that they will be up with him, and tries to hide behind a willow-bush. Resistance is vain, for there is no other man by but Will of Kirkhill; entreaties and promises are bootless; the Crichtons hang the Galliard high. Will of Kirkhill vows to avenge his uncle’s death, and to this end goes back to Wamphray and raises a large band of riders, who proceed to Nithsdale and drive off the Crichtons’ cattle. On the return the Johnstones are followed or intercepted by the Crichtons; a fight ensues, and the Crichtons suffer severely. Will of Kirkhill boasts that he has killed a man for every finger of the Galliard. The Johnstones drive the Crichtons’ nout to Wamphray.[[302]]
There is a story, not sufficiently authenticated, that Lord Maxwell, while engaged in single combat with Johnstone, at the battle of Dryfesands, “was slain behind his back by the cowardly hands of Will of Kirkhill.” The New Statistical Account of Scotland, IV, 148, note[B].
1
Twixt the Girthhead and Langwood-end
Livd the Galiard and Galiard’s men.
2
It is the lads of Lethenha,
The greatest rogues among them a’.
3
It is the lads of Leverhay,
That drove the Crichtons’ gier away.
4
It is the lads o the Kirkhill,
The gay Galiard and Will o Kirkhill,
5
But and the lads o Stefenbiggin,
They broke the house in at the riggin.
6
The lads o Fingland and Hellbackhill,
They were neer for good, but aye for ill.
7
Twixt the Staywood Bass and Langside Hill,
They stelld the broked cow and branded bull.
8
It is the lads o the Girthhead,
The diel’s in them for pride and greed.
9
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
10
The Galiard is to the stable gane;
Instead of the Dun, the Blind he’s taen.
11
‘Come out now, Simmy o the Side,
Come out and see a Johnston ride!
12
‘Here’s the boniest horse in a’Nithside,
And a gentle Johnston aboon his hide.’
13
Simmy Crichton’s mounted then,
And Crichtons has raised mony a ane.
14
The Galiard thought his horse had been fleet,
But they did outstrip him quite out o sight.
15
As soon as the Galiard the Crichton he saw,
Beyond the saugh-bush he did draw.
16
The Crichtons there the Galiard hae taen,
And nane wi him but Willy alane.
17
‘O Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang,
And I vow I’ll neer do a Crichton wrang!
18
‘O Simmy, Simmy, now let me be,
And a peck o goud I’ll gie to thee!
19
‘O Simmy, Simmy, let me gang,
And my wife shall heap it wi her hand!’
20
But the Crichtons wadna let Willy bee,
But they hanged him high upon a tree.
21
O think then Will he was right wae,
When he saw his uncle guided sae.
22
‘But if ever I live Wamphray to see,
My uncle’s death revenged shall be!’
23
Back to Wamphray Willy’s gane,
And riders has raised mony a ane.
24
Saying, My lads, if ye’ll be true,
Ye’s a’be clad in the noble blue.
25
Back to Nidsdale they are gane,
And away the Crichtons’ nout they hae taen.
26
As they came out at the Wallpath-head,
The Crichtons bad them light and lead.
27
And when they came to the Biddess-burn,
The Crichtons bad them stand and turn.
28
And when they came to the Biddess-strand,
The Crichtons they were hard at hand.
29
But when they cam to the Biddess-law,
The Johnstons bad them stand and draw.
30
Out then spake then Willy Kirkhill:
‘Of fighting, lads, ye’s hae your fill.’
31
Then off his horse Willy he lap,
And a burnishd brand in his hand he took.
32
And through the Crichtons Willy he ran,
And dang them down both horse and man.
33
O but these lads were wondrous rude,
When the Biddess-burn ran three days blood!
34
‘I think, my lads, we’ve done a noble deed;
We have revengd the Galiard’s blood.
35
‘For every finger o the Galiard’s hand,
I vow this day I’ve killed a man.’
36
And hame for Wamphray they are gane,
And away the Crichtons’ nout they’ve taen.
37
‘Sin we’ve done na hurt, nor we’ll take na wrang,
But back to Wamphray we will gang.’
38
As they came in at Evanhead,
At Reaklaw-holm they spred abread.
39
‘Drive on, my lads, it will be late;
We’ll have a pint at Wamphray Gate.
40
‘For where eer I gang, or eer I ride,
The lads o Wamphr[a]y’s on my side.
41
‘For of a’the lads that I do ken,
The lads o Wamphr[a]y’s king o men.’
Not divided into stanzas in the MS. Scott makes stanzas of four lines.
31. Leuerhay.
After 8 Scott inserts:
For the Galliard, and the gay Galliard’s men,
They neer saw a horse but they made it their ain.
The Galliard to Nithside is gane,
To steal Sim Crichton’s winsome dun.
201. let Willy bee, in the text: or the Galiard, in the margin.
211. In the margin: Will of Kirkhill.
382. Breaklaw: changed in the MS. to Reaklaw.
185
DICK O THE COW
a. ‘An excelent old song cald Dick of the Cow.’ Percy Papers, 1775. b. Caw’s Poetical Museum, p. 22, 1784. c. Campbell, Albyn’s Anthology, II, 31, 1818.
a seems to have been communicated to Percy by Roger Halt in 1775. b was contributed to Caw’s Museum by John Elliot of Reidheugh, a gentleman, says Scott, well skilled in the antiquities of the western border. c was taken down “from the singing and recitation of a Liddesdale-man, namely, Robert Shortreed, sheriff-substitute of Roxburghshire, in the autumn of 1816;” but it differs from b in no important respect except the omission of thirteen stanzas, 17, 18, 24, 32, 35–38, 51, 52, 56–58.
Scott’s copy, I, 137, 1802, II, 63, 1833, is c with the deficient stanzas supplied from b. A copy in the Campbell MSS, I, 204, is b.
Ritson pointed out to Scott a passage in Nashe’s Have with you to Saffren Walden which shows that this ballad was popular before the end of the sixteenth century: “Dick of the Cow, that mad demi-lance northren borderer, who plaied his prizes with the lord Jockey so bravely,” 1596, in Grosart’s Nashe, III, 6.
An allusion to it likewise occurs in Parrot’s Laquei Ridiculosi, or Springes for Woodcocks, London, 1613, Epigr. 76.
Owenus wondreth, since he came to Wales,
What the description of this isle should be,
That nere had seen but mountains, hills, and dales;
Yet would he boast, and stand on pedigree
From Rice ap Richard, sprung from Dick a Cow;
Be cod, was right gud gentleman, look ye now!
Scott’s Minstrelsy, II, 62, 1833.
In a list of books printed for and sold by P. Brooksby, 1688, occurs Dick-a-the-Cow, containing north-country songs: Ritson, in Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 223, 1833.
Two stanzas are cited in Pennant’s Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides in 1772, Part II, p. 276, ed. 1776.
Then Johnie Armstrong to Willie gan say,
‘Billie, a riding then will we;
England and us have been long at feud;
Perhaps we may hit on some bootie.’
Then they’re come on to Hutton-Ha;
They rade that proper place about;
But the laird he was the wiser man,
For he had left na geir without.
Fair Johnie Armstrong[[303]] and Willie his brother, having lain long in, ride out on the chance of some booty. They come to Hutton Hall, but find no gear left without by the experienced laird, except six sheep, which they scorn to take. Johnie asks Willie who the man was that they last met, and learning that it was Dick o the Cow, a fool whom he knows to have three as good kine as are in Cumberland, says, These kine shall go with me to Liddesdale. They carry off Dick’s three kine, and also three coverlets from his wife’s bed. When daylight reveals the theft, Dick’s wife raises a wail; he bids her be still, he will bring her three cows for one. Dick goes to his master and makes his loss known, and asks leave to go to Liddesdale to steal; his troth is required that he will steal from none but those who have stolen from him. Dickie goes on to Puddingburn, where there are three and thirty Armstrongs, and complains to the Laird’s Jock of the wrong which Fair Johnie Armstrong and Willie have done him. Fair Johnie is for hanging Dick, Willie for slaying him, and another young man for tossing him in a sheet, beating him, and letting him go. The Laird’s Jock, who is a better fellow than the rest, tells Dick that if he will sit down he shall have a bit of his own cow. Dick observes that a key has been flung over the doorhead by lads who have come in late. With this key he opens the stable where are the Armstrongs’ three and thirty horses. He ties all but three with a triple knot,[[304]] leaps on one, takes another in his hand, and makes off. Fair Johnie discovers in the morning that his own horse and Willie’s have been stolen, borrows the Laird’s-Jock’s, which Dick (for improvement of the story) happens not to have tied, arms himself, and sets out in pursuit. Overtaking Dick on Canoby lee, Johnie sends a spear at him, which only pierces the innocent’s jerkin. Dick turns on Johnie, and has the good fortune to fell him with the pommel of his sword. He strips Johnie of armor and sword, takes the third horse, and goes home to his master, who threatens to hang him for his thieving. The fool plants himself upon the terms his master had made with him: he had stolen from none but those that had stolen from him. His having the Laird Jock’s horse requires explanation; but Dick is able to give such satisfaction on that point that his master offers twenty pound and one of his best milk-kye for the horse. Dick exacts and gets thirty, and makes the same bargain with his master’s brother for Fair Johnie Armstrong’s horse. So he goes back to his wife, and gives her threescore pound for her three coverlets, two kye as good as her three, and has the third horse over and above. But Dick sees that he cannot safely remain on the border after this reprisal upon the Armstrongs, and removes to Burgh (Brough) under Stainmoor, in the extreme south of Cumberland.[[305]]
Henry Lord Scroop of Bolton was warden of the West Marches for thirty years from 1563, and his son Thomas for the next ten years, down to the union of the crowns. Which of the two is intended in this ballad might be settled beyond question by identifying my lord’s brother, Ralph Scroop, Bailif Glazenberrie, or Glozenburrie, st. 54 f.; but the former is altogether more probable.
The Laird’s Jock, in the opinion of Mr R. B. Armstrong, was a son of Thomas of Mangerton, the elder brother of Gilnockie. There are notices of him from 1569 to 1599. In 1569 Archibald Armstrong of Mangerton declined to be pledge for John Armstrong, called the Lardis Jok, Reg. P. Council; in 1599 he and other principal Armstrongs executed a bond,[[306]] and he is mentioned (in what fashion will presently appear) at various intermediate dates.
Jock, the Laird’s son, an Armstrong of Liddesdale, had a brother called John,[[307]] MS. General Register House, 1569. (He is not called Fair John in any document besides the ballad.) In a later MS. there is an entry of the marriage of John Armstrong, called the Lord’s John. John Armstrong, son to the laird of Mangerton, is witness to two bonds in which John of the Syde is a party, in 1562, 1563: R. B. Armstrong, History of Liddesdale, etc., Appendix, pp. ciii, civ. In a London MS. the Lord’s John is said to have been executed.
The Laird’s Jock, his father the laird of Mangerton, Sim’s Thom, and their accomplices, are complained of in November, 1582, by Sir Simon Musgrave for burning of his barns, wheat, etc., worth £1,000 sterling: Nicolson and Burn, History of Westmoreland and Cumberland, I, xxxi. The commendation of the Laird’s Jock’s honesty in st. 47, as Scott says, seems but indifferently founded; “for in July, 1586, a bill was fouled against him, Dick of Dryup, and others, by the deputy of Bewcastle, at a warden-meeting, for four hundred head of cattle taken in open foray from the Drysike in Bewcastle; and in September, 1587, another complaint appears, at the instance of one Andrew Rutledge of the Nook, against the Laird’s Jock and his accomplices, for fifty kine and oxen, besides furniture to the amount of one hundred merks sterling:” Nicolson and Burn, as above. To be sure, we find the laird of Mangerton, on the next page, making complaints of the same kind against various persons, but it is to be feared that the Laird’s Jock, at least, did not keep to the innocent’s golden rule, ‘to steal frae nane but them that sta from thee.’ Sir Richard Maitland gives him his character:
Thay spuilye puire men of thair pakis,
Thay leife tham nocht on bed nor bakis;
Baith henne and cok,
With reill and rok,
The Lairdis Jok all with him takis. (MS.)
Hutton Hall, 3, being more than twenty miles from the border, seems remote for the Armstrongs’ first reconnaissance, and it is no wonder that Fair Johnie stickled at driving six sheep to such a distance. We might ask how Dick, who evidently lives near Carlisle (for, besides other reasons, he is intimately acquainted with the Armstrongs), should have been met so far from home.
Harribie, 14, mentioned also in ‘Kinmont Willie,’ was the place of execution at Carlisle.
Puddingburn House, 16, according to Chambers, Scottish Ballads, p. 48, was a strong place on the side of the Tinnis Hill, about three miles westward from the Syde (and therefore a very little further from the house of Mangerton), of which the ruins now serve for a sheepfold. A MS. cited by Mr R. B. Armstrong says: “Joke Armestronge, called the Lord’s Joke, dwelleth under Denys Hill besides Kyrsoppe in Tenisborne;” and in another MS. the Lord Jock of Tennesborne is stated to have lived a mile west from Kersopp-foote. The name Puddingburn has not been found on any map.[[308]]
Cannobei, 34, is on the east of the Esk, just above its juncture with the Liddel. Mattan, 52, 58 (Morton in b), is perhaps the small town a few miles east of Whitehaven. There were cattle-fairs at Arlochden, which is very nigh, in the early part of this century: Lysons, Cumberland, p. 10.
The Cow in Dick’s name can have no reference to his cattle, for then his style would have been Dick o the Kye. Cow may possibly denote the hut in which he lived; or bush, or broom.
Translated by Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 15, p. 42.
1
Now Liddisdale has lain long in,
Fa la
There is no rideing there a ta;
Fa la
Their horse is growing so lidder and fatt
That are lazie in the sta.
Fa la la didle
2
Then Johnë Armstrang to Willie can say,
Billie, a rideing then will we;
England and us has been long at a feed;
Perhaps we may hitt of some bootie.
3
Then they’r comd on to Hutton Hall,
They rade that proper place about;
But the laird he was the wiser man,
For he had left nae gear without.
4
Then he had left nae gear to steal,
Except six sheep upon a lee;
Says Johnie, I’de rather in England die
Before their six sheep good to Liddisdale with me.
5
‘But how cald they the man we last with mett,
Billie, as we came over the know?’
‘That same he is an innocent fool,
And some men calls him Dick o the Cow.’
6
‘That fool has three as good kyne of his own
As is in a’ Cumberland, billíe,’ quoth he:
‘Betide my life, betide my death,
These three kyne shal go to Liddisdaile with me.’
7
Then they’re comd on to the poor fool’s house,
And they have broken his wals so wide;
They have loosd out Dick o the Cow’s kyne three,
And tane three coerlets off his wife’s bed.
8
Then on the morn, when the day grew light,
The shouts and crys rose loud and high:
‘Hold thy tongue, my wife,’ he says,
‘And of thy crying let me bee.
9
‘Hald thy tongue, my wife,’ he says,
‘And of thy crying let me bee,
And ay that where thou wants a kow,
Good sooth that I shal bring the three.’
10
Then Dick’s comd on to lord and master,
And I wate a drerie fool [was] he:
‘Hald thy tongue, my fool,’ he says,
‘For I may not stand to jest with thee.’
11
‘Shame speed a your jesting, my lord,’ quo Dickie,
‘For nae such jesting grees with me;
Liddesdaile has been in my house this last night,
And they have tane my three kyne from me.
12
‘But I may nae langer in Cumberland dwel,
To be your poor fool and your leel,
Unless ye give me leave, my lord,
To go to Liddisdale and steal.’
13
‘To give thee leave, my fool,’ he says,
‘Thou speaks against mine honour and me;
Unless thou give me thy trouth and thy right hand
Thou’l steal frae nane but them that sta from thee.’
14
‘There is my trouth and my right hand;
My head shal hing on Hairibie,
I’le never crose Carlele sands again,
If I steal frae a man but them that sta frae me.’
15
Dickie has tane leave at lord and master,
And I wate a merrie fool was he;
He has bought a bridle and a pair of new spurs,
And has packed them up in his breek-thigh.
16
Then Dickie’s come on for Puddinburn,
Even as fast as he may drie;
Dickie’s come on for Puddinburn,
Where there was thirty Armstrongs and three.
17
‘What’s this comd on me!’ quo Dickë,
‘What meakle wae’s this happend on me,’ quo he,
‘Where here is but ae innocent fool,
And there is thirty Armstrongs and three!’
18
Yet he’s comd up to the hall among them all;
So wel he became his courtisie:
‘Well may ye be, my good Laird’s Jock!
But the deil bless all your companie.
19
‘I’m come to plain of your man Fair Johnie Armstrong,
And syne his billie Willie,’ quo he;
‘How they have been in my house this last night,
And they have tane my three ky frae me.’
20
Quo Johnie Armstrong, We’ll him hang;
‘Nay,’ thain quo Willie, ‘we’ll him slae;’
But up bespake another young man, We’le nit him in a four-nooked sheet,
Give him his burden of batts, and lett him gae.
21
Then up bespake the good Laird’s Jock,
The best falla in the companie:
Fitt thy way down a little while, Dickë,
And a peice of thine own cow’s hough I’l give to thee.
22
But Dicki’s heart it grew so great
That never a bitt of it he dought to eat;
But Dickie was warr of ane auld peat-house,
Where there al the night he thought for to sleep.
23
Then Dickie was warr of that auld peat-house,
Where there al the night he thought for to ly;
And a’the prayers the poor fool prayd was,
‘I wish I had a mense for my own three kye!’
24
Then it was the use of Puddinburn,
And the house of Mangertoun, all haile!
These that came not at the first call
They gott no more meat till the next meall.
25
The lads, that hungry and aevery was,
Above the door-head they flang the key;
Dickie took good notice to that;
Says, There’s a bootie younder for me.
26
Then Dickie’s gane into the stable,
Where there stood thirty horse and three;
He has ty’d them a’with St Mary knot,
All these horse but barely three.
27
He has ty’d them a’with St Mary knott,
All these horse but barely three;
He has loupen on one, taken another in his hand,
And out at the door and gane is Dickie.
28
Then on the morn, when the day grew light,
The shouts and cryes rose loud and high;
‘What’s that theife?’ quo the good Laird’s Jock;
‘Tel me the truth and the verity.
29
‘What’s that theife?’ quo the good Laird’s Jock;
‘See unto me ye do not lie:’
‘Dick o the Cow has been in the stable this last night,
And has my brother’s horse and mine frae me.’
30
‘Ye wad never be teld it,’ quo the Laird’s Jock;
‘Have ye not found my tales fu leel?
Ye wade never out of England bide,
Till crooked and blind and a’wad steal.’
31
‘But will thou lend me thy bay?’ Fair Johnë Armstrong can say,
‘There’s nae mae horse loose in the stable but he;
And I’le either bring ye Dick o the Kow again,
Or the day is come that he must die.’
32
‘To lend thee my bay,’ the Laird’s Jock can say,
‘He’s both worth gold and good monie;
Dick o the Kow has away twa horse,
I wish no thou should no make him three.’
33
He has tane the Laird’s jack on his back,
The twa-handed sword that hang lieugh by his thigh;
He has tane the steel cap on his head,
And on is he to follow Dickie.
34
Then Dickie was not a mile off the town,
I wate a mile but barely three,
Till John Armstrang has oertane Dick o the Kow,
Hand for hand on Cannobei lee.
35
‘Abide th[e], bide now, Dickie than,
The day is come that thow must die;’
Dickie looked oer his left shoulder;
‘Johnie, has thow any mo in thy company?
36
‘There is a preacher in owr chapell,
And a’the lee-lang day teaches he;
When day is gane, and night is come,
There’s never a word I mark but three.
37
‘The first and second’s Faith and Conscience;
The third is, Johnie, Take head of thee;
But what faith and conscience had thow, traitor,
When thou took my three kye frae me?
38
‘And when thou had tane my three kye,
Thou thought in thy heart thou was no wel sped;
But thou sent thi billie Willie oer the know,
And he took three coerlets of my wife’s bed.’
39
Then Johne lett a spear fa leaugh by his thigh,
Thought well to run the innocent through;
But the powers above was more than his,
He ran but the poor fool’s jerkin through.
40
Together they ran or ever they blan—
This was Dickie, the fool, and hee—
Dickie could not win to him with the blade of the sword,
But he feld [him] with the plummet under the eye.
41
Now Dickie has [feld] Fair Johnë Armstrong,
The prettiest man in the south countrey;
‘Gramercie,’ then can Dickie say,
‘I had twa horse, thou has made me three.’
42
He has tane the laird’s jack off his back,
The twa-handed sword that hang leiugh by his thigh;
He has tane the steel cape off his head:
‘Johnie, I’le tel my master I met with thee.’
43
When Johnë wakend out of his dream,
I wate a dreiry man was he:
‘Is thou gane now, Dickie, than?
The shame gae in thy company!
44
‘Is thou gane now, Dickie, than?
The shame go in thy companie!
For if I should live this hundred year,
I shal never fight with a fool after thee.’
45
Then Dickie comed home to lord and master,
Even as fast as he may driee:
‘Now Dickie, I shal neither eat meat nor drink
Till high hanged that thou shall be!’
46
‘The shame speed the liars, my lord!’ quo Dickie,
‘That was no the promise ye made to me;
For I’d never gane to Liddesdale to steal
Till that I sought my leave at thee.’
47
‘But what gart thow steal the Laird’s-Jock’s horse?
And, limmer, what gart thou steal him?’ quo he;
‘For lang might thow in Cumberland dwelt
Or the Laird’s Jock had stoln ought frae thee.’
48
‘Indeed I wate ye leed, my lord,
And even so loud as I hear ye lie;
I wan him frae his man, Fair Johnë Armstrong,
Hand for hand on Cannobie lee.
49
‘There’s the jack was on his back,
The twa-handed sword that hung lewgh by his thigh;
There’s the steel cap was on his head;
I have a’these takens to lett you see.’
50
‘If that be true thou to me tels—
I trow thou dare not tel a lie—
I’le give thee twenty pound for the good horse,
Wel teld in thy cloke-lap shall be.
51
‘And I’le give thee one of my best milk-kye,
To maintain thy wife and children three;
[And that may be as good, I think,
As ony twa o thine might be.’]
52
‘The shame speed the liars, my lord!’ quo Dicke,
‘Trow ye ay to make a fool of me?
I’le either have thirty pound for the good horse,
Or els he’s gae to Mattan fair wi me:’
53
Then he has given him thirty pound for the good horse,
All in gold and good monie;
He has given him one of his best milk-kye,
To maintain his wife and children three.
54
Then Dickie’s come down through Carlile town,
Even as fast as he may drie:
The first of men that he with mett
Was my lord’s brother, Bailife Glazenberrie.
55
‘Well may ye be, my good Ralph Scrupe!’
‘Welcome, my brother’s fool!’ quo he;
‘Where did thou gett Fair Johnie Armstrong’s horse?’
‘Where did I get him but steall him,’ quo he.
56
‘But will thou sell me Fair Johnie Armstrongś horse?
And, billie, will thou sel him to me?’ quo he:
‘Ay, and tel me the monie on my cloke-lap,
For there’s not one fathing I’le trust thee.’
57
‘I’le give thee fifteen pound for the good horse,
Wel teld on thy cloke-lap shal be;
And I’le give [thee] one of my best milk-kye,
To maintain thy wife and thy children three.’
58
‘The shame speed the liars, my lord!’ quo Dickë,
‘Trow ye ay to make a fool of me?’ quo he:
‘I’le either have thirty pound for the good horse,
Or else he’s to Mattan Fair with me.’
59
He has given him thirty pound for the good horse,
All in gold and good monie;
He has given him one of his best milk-kye,
To maintain his wife and children three.
60
Then Dickie lap a loup on high,
And I wate a loud laughter leugh he:
‘I wish the neck of the third horse were browken,
For I have a better of my own, and onie better can be.’
61
Then Dickie comd hame to his wife again;
Judge ye how the poor fool he sped;
He has given her three score of English pounds
For the three auld coerlets was tane of her bed.
62
‘Hae, take thee there twa as good kye,
I trow, as al thy three might be;
And yet here is a white-footed naigg;
I think he’le carry booth thee and me.
63
‘But I may no langer in Cumberland dwell;
The Armstrongs the’le hang me high:’
But Dickie has tane leave at lord and master,
And Burgh under Stanemuir there dwels Dickie.
a.
44. Over good is written went.
102. I wats: cf. 152, 342, 432.
213. Fitt: Caw, Sit. I take fitt in the sense of fettle.
234. a mense.
383. Sent ye.
472. steal the Laird Jock horse erroneously repeated from the line above: corrected from Caw.
513,4 wanting: supplied from b.
551. Srcupe.
622. for thy, thyee, corrected from three.
b.
Burden, after the first and fourth line, Fala, fala, fala, faliddle.
13. horses are grown sae lidder fat.
14. They downa stur out o the sta.
22. then we’ll gae.
24. Ablins we’ll hit on.
32. rade the.
43. Quo J.
44. Ere thir: gae.
51. with wanting.
54. men ca.
61,4, 114, 194. ky.
62. As there’s.
63. me for my, twice.
73. three ky.
81. day was.
83, 91. O had.
94. In good sooth I’ll.
101. on for ’s.
102. was he.
103. Now had.
113. this wanting.
131. I gi.
132. speakest: my.
133. right wanting.
134. but wha sta frae.
142. hang.
144. but wha sta.
162. might.
163. Now Dickie’s.
164. were.
171. O what’s this comd o me now.
182. Sae weil’s.
192. o his.
193. the last.
203, 211. up and.
203. We’ll nit him in a four-nooked sheet wanting.
204. We’ll gie im his batts.
212. in a’the.
213. Sit thy ways: Dickie.
214. thy: gi thee.
223. Then Dickie.
224, 232. there wanting.
231. o an auld.
233. was wanting.
234. a mense.
243. came na.
244. t’the.
251. weary for aevery: were.
252. Aboon: hang for flang.
253. Dickie he.
261. Then D. into the stable is gane.
262, 272. horses.
263, 271. Mary’s.
273. tane: his wanting.
283, 291. O where’s.
292. dinna.
293. Dickie’s been: this wanting.
301. it wanting.
311. But lend me thy bay, Johnie.
312. mae wanting.
313. ye wanting.
314. he shall.
322. worth baith.
324. na thou may make.
332. lieugh wanting.
334. he gane.
341. was na.
343. Till he’s oertane by Johnie A.
351. Abide, abide.
352. maun die.
353. Then wanting.
354. thy wanting.
364. neer ae.
372. third, neer let a traitor free.
373. But Johnie: hadst: traitor wanting.
381. tane away.
383. But sent thy.
392. to hae slain the innocent, I trow.
393. were mair than he.
394. For he.
404. But feld ’im.
411. has feld.
422. leiugh wanting.
431. Johnie.
433, 441. And is.
443. years.
444. I neer shall.
451. come.
453. I’ll neither eat nor.
454. hanged thou shalt.
464. Till I had got my.
472. gard thou steal him, quo he.
474. Ere: stawn frae.
483. Johnie.
493. And there’s.
494. let thee.
502. dare na.
503, 523, 531, 571, 583, 591. punds.
513,4. And that may be as good, I think, As ony twa o thine might be.
524. els wanting: Mortan.
531. He’s gien.
541. Dickie came.
542. he might.
543. met with.
544. Glozenburrie.
561,2. wilt.
564. no ae fardin.
573. gi thee.
574. thy wanting.
584. Or he’s gae: Mortan.
601. fu hie.
602. laugh laughed.
604. if better can be.
611. Dickie’s.
612. fool sped.
621. these for there.
623. a accidentally wanting: nagie.
631. bide for dwell.
634. dwells he.
Simple Scotticisms and ordinary contractions have generally not been noted.
c.
Reading of b are not repeated.
Burden: after the first and the second verse, Lal de ral, thrice, la lal de; at the end of the stanza:
Lal lal de ridle la di, fal lal de ridle la di,
Fal lal di lal la, fal lal di ridle la.
21. Fair Johnie.
22. riding we will.
23. have been: at feid.
24. we’ll light.
31. they are come.
32. that proper, as a.
41. For he.
51. ca.
54. And men they call.
62. there are.
71. they have come.
74. frae his.
82. rase.
92. ay where thou hast lost ae.
94. suith I shall.
101. Now Dickie’s gane to the gude Lord Scroop.
111. Shame fa your.
114. hae awa.
123. you.
134. Thou’lt.
151. leave o.
152. And wanting.
161. on to Pudding-burn house.
163. Then: on to.
17, 18 wanting.
193. house last.
201. Ha quo fair.
202. then wanting.
203. Then up and spak: young Armstrang.
211. But up and spak.
213. down thy ways.
214. gie ye.
222. the neer.
223. Then was he aware.
234. Were I: amends: my gude.
24 wanting.
252. they threw.
253. o that.
254. There will be a bootie for.
261. has into the stable gane.
274. And away as fast as he can hie.
281. But.
282. raise.
283. Ah, whae has done this.
291. Whae has done this deed.
292. See that to me.
294. has taen.
311. But lend me thy bay, Fair Johnie can say.
312. save he.
313. either fetch.
32 wanting.
332. A: to hang by.
333. a for the.
334. And galloped on to.
341. Then wanting: frae aff.
343. When he was: Fair J. A.
35–38 wanting.
391. fu for fa: misprint?
403. at him.
411. Thus.
414. hast.
421. the steil-jack aff Johnie’s back.
422. hang low.
434. The shame and dule is left wi me.
442. The deil.
443. these h. years.
451. hame to the good Lord Scroop.
452. he might hie.
464. Had I not got my leave frae.
471. garrd thee.
472. garrd ye.
473. thou mightst.
483. wan the horse frae Fair.
484. Hand to.
492. This: sword hang.
494. brought a’.
502. And I think thou dares.
503. fifteen pounds for the horse.
504. on thy.
51, 52 wanting.
531. twenty pounds.
542. could drie.
551. Well be ye met.
553. didst.
56, 57, 58 wanting.
591. twenty punds.
592. Baith in.
604. If ony of the twa were better than he.
611. Dickie’s come.
612. had sped.
613. twa score.
614. was wanting.
621. And tak.
632. they would.
633. So D.
634. And at.
186
KINMONT WILLIE
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, I, 111, 1802; II, 32, 1833.
This ballad celebrates a bold and masterly exploit of Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm, laird of Buccleuch, which is narrated as follows by a contemporary, Archbishop Spotiswood:[[309]]
“The Lord Scroop being then Warden of the West-Marches of England, and the Laird of Bacleugh having the charge of Lidisdale, they sent their deputies to keep a day of truce for redress of some ordinary matters. The place of meeting was at the Dayholme of Kershop, where a small brook divideth England from Scotland, and Lidisdale from Bawcastle. There met, as deputy for the Laird of Bacleugh, Robert Scott of Hayninge, and for the Lord Scroop, a gentleman within the West-Wardenry called Mr Salkeld. These two, after truce taken and proclaimed, as the custom was, by sound of trumpet, met friendly, and, upon mutual redress of such wrongs as were then complained of, parted in good terms, each of them taking his way homewards. Meanwhile it happened one William Armstrong, commonly called Will of Kinmouth, to be in company with the Scottish deputy; against whom the English had a quarrel for many wrongs he had committed, as he was indeed a notorious thief. This man having taken his leave of the Scots deputy, and riding down the river of Liddell on the Scottish side, towards his own house, was pursued by the English that espied him from the other side of the river, and after a chase of three or four miles taken prisoner, and brought back to the English deputy, who carried him away to the castle of Carlile.
“The Laird of Bacleugh complaining of the breach of truce (which was always taken from the time of meeting unto the next day at sun-rising) wrote to Mr Salkeld and craved redress. He excused himself by the absence of the Lord Scroop. Whereupon Bacleugh sent to the Lord Scroop, and desired the prisoner might be set at liberty, without any bond or condition, seeing he was unlawfully taken. Scroop answered that he could do nothing in the matter, it having so happened, without a direction from the queen and council of England, considering the man was such a malefactor. Bacleugh, loath to inform the king of what was done, lest it might have bred some misliking betwixt the princes, dealt with Mr Bowes, the resident ambassador of England, for the prisoner’s liberty: who wrote very seriously to the Lord Scroop in that business, advising him to set the man free, and not to bring the matter to a farther hearing. But no answer was returned; the matter thereupon was imparted to the king, and the queen of England solicited by letters to give direction for his liberty; yet nothing was obtained. Which Bacleugh perceiving, and apprehending both the king, and himself as the king’s officer, to be touched in honor, he resolved to work the prisoner’s relief by the best means he could.
“And upon intelligence that the castle of Carlile, wherein the prisoner was kept, was surprisable, he employed some trusty persons to take a view of the postern-gate, and measure the height of the wall, which he meant to scale by ladders; and if those failed, to break through the wall with some iron instruments, and force the gates. This done so closely as he could, he drew together some two hundred horse, assigning the place of meeting at the tower of Morton,[[310]] some ten miles from Carlile, an hour before sun-set. With this company passing the water of Esk about the falling, two hours before day he crossed Eden beneath Carlile bridge (the water through the rain that had fallen being thick), and came to the Sacery [Sacray], a plain under the castle. There making a little halt at the side of a small bourn which they call Cadage [Caday, Caldew], he caused eighty of the company to light from their horses, and take the ladders and other instruments which he had prepared with them. He himself, accompanying them to the foot of the wall, caused the ladders to be set to it; which proving too short, he gave order to use the other instruments for opening the wall, nigh the postern, and finding the business like to succeed, retired to the rest whom he had left on horseback, for assuring those that entered upon the castle against any eruption from the town. With some little labor a breach was made for single men to enter, and they who first went in brake open the postern for the rest. The watchmen and some few the noise awaked made a little restraint, but they were quickly repressed and taken captive. After which they passed to the chamber wherein the prisoner was kept, and having brought him forth, sounded a trumpet, which was a signal to them without that the enterprise was performed. My Lord Scroop and Mr Salkeld were both within the house, and to them the prisoner cried a good-night. The captives taken in the first encounter were brought to Bacleugh, who presently returned them to their master, and would not suffer any spoil, or booty, as they term it, to be carried away. He had straightly forbidden to break open any door but that where the prisoner was kept, though he might have made prey of all the goods within the castle and taken the warden himself captive; for he would have it seen that he did intend nothing but the reparation of his Majesty’s honor. By this time the prisoner was brought forth, the town had taken the alarm, the drums were beating, the bells ringing, and a beacon put on the top of the castle to give warning to the country. Whereupon Bacleugh commanded those that entered the castle, and the prisoner, to horse, and marching again by the Sacery, made to the river at the Stony bank, on the other side whereof certain were assembled to stop his passage; but he, causing sound the trumpet, took the river, day being then broken; and they choosing to give him way, he retired in order through the Grahams of Esk (men at that time of great power and his unfriends) and came back into Scottish ground two hours after sun-rising, and so homewards. This fell out the thirteenth of April, 1596.” (History of the Church of Scotland, 1639, in the second edition, 1666, p. 413 ff.)
Lord Scroope, on the morning after, wrote thus to the Privy Council of England:
“Yesternight, in the dead time thereof, Walter Scott of Hardinge and Walter Scott of Goldylands, the chief men about Buclughe, accompanied with five hundred horsemen of Buclughe and Kinmont’s friends, did come, armed and appointed with gavlocks and crows of iron, hand-picks, axes, and scaling-ladders, unto an outward corner of the base-court of this castle, and to the postern-door of the same, which they undermined speedily and quickly, and made themselves possessors of the base-court, brake into the chamber where Will of Kinmont was, carried him away, and, in their discovery by the watch, left for dead two of the watchmen, hurt a servant of mine, one of Kinmont’s keepers, and were issued again out of the postern before they were descried by the watch of the inner ward, and ere resistance could be made. The watch, as it should seem, by reason of the stormy night, were either on sleep or gotten under some covert to defend themselves from the violence of the weather, by means whereof the Scots achieved their enterprise with less difficulty.... If Buclughe himself have been thereat in person, the captain of this proud attempt, as some of my servants tell me they heard his name called upon (the truth whereof I shall shortly advertise) then I humbly beseech that her Majesty may be pleased to send unto the king to call for and effectually to press his delivery, that he may receive punishment as her Majesty shall find that the quality of his offence shall demerit.”[[311]] MS. of the State Paper Office, in Tytler’s History, IX, 436.
Kinmont’s rapacity made his very name proverbial. “Mas James Melvine, in urging reasons against subscribing the act of supremacy, in 1584, asks ironically, Who shall take order with vice and wickedness? The court and bishops? As well as Martine Elliot and Will of Kinmont with stealing upon the borders!” Scott, Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 46.
Accordingly, when James was taking measures for bringing the refractory ministers and citizens of Edinburgh into some proper subjection, at the end of the year 1596, a report that Kinmont Willie was to be let loose upon the city caused a lively consternation; “but too well grounded,” says Scott, “considering what had happened in Stirling ten years before, when the Earl of Angus, attended by Home, Buccleuch, and other border chieftains, marched thither to remove the Earl of Arran from the king’s councils: the town was miserably pillaged by the borderers, particularly by a party of Armstrongs, under this very Kinmont Willie, who not only made prey of horses and cattle, but even of the very iron grating of the windows.” Minstrelsy, II, 45.
The ballad gives Buccleuch only forty men, and they are all of the name of Scott except Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs: st. 16. A partial list of the men who forced the castle was obtained by Lord Scroope. It includes, as might be expected, not a few Armstrongs, and among them the laird of Mangerton, Christy of Barngleish (son of Gilnockie), and four sons of Kinmont Willie (he had at least seven); two Elliots, but not Sir Gilbert; four Bells.[[312]] Scott of Satchells, in his History of the Name of Scott, 1688, makes Sir Gilbert Elliot one of the party, but may have taken this name from the ballad. (Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 43.) Dick of Dryhope, 24, 25, was an Armstrong.[[313]] The ballad, again, after cutting down Buccleuch’s men to thirty (st. 33) or forty (18, 19), assigns the very liberal garrison of a thousand to the castle, 33; the ladders are long enough, Buccleuch mounts the first,[[314]] the castle is won, and Kinmont Willie, in his irons, is borne down the ladder on Red Rowan’s[[315]] shoulders: all of which is as it should be in a ballad. And so with the death of the fause Sakelde, though not a life seems to have been lost in the whole course of the affair.
“This ballad,” says Scott, “is preserved by tradition in the West Borders, but much mangled by reciters, so that some conjectural emendations have been absolutely necessary to render it intelligible. In particular, the Eden has been substituted for the Esk [in 262], the latter name being inconsistent with geography.” It is to be suspected that a great deal more emendation was done than the mangling of reciters rendered absolutely necessary. One would like, for example, to see stanzas 10–12 and 31 in their mangled condition.[[316]]
1. William Armstrong, called Will of Kinmonth, lived in Morton Tower, a little above the Marchdike-foot. He appears, says Mr R. B. Armstrong, to have been a son of Sandy, alias Ill Will’s Sandy. Haribee is the place of execution outside of Carlisle. 3. The Liddel-rack is a ford in that river, which, for a few miles before it empties into the Esk, is the boundary of England and Scotland. 8. Branxholm, or Branksome, is three miles southwest, and Stobs, 16, some four miles southeast, of Hawick. 19. Woodhouselee was a house on the Scottish border, a little west of the junction of the Esk and Liddel, “belonging to Buccleuch,” says Scott.
1
O have ye na heard o the fause Sakelde?
O have ye na heard o the keen Lord Scroop?
How they hae taen bauld Kinmont Willie,
On Hairibee to hang him up?
2
Had Willie had but twenty men,
But twenty men as stout as he,
Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont taen,
Wi eight score in his companie.
3
They band his legs beneath the steed,
They tied his hands behind his back;
They guarded him, fivesome on each side,
And they brought him ower the Liddel-rack.
4
They led him thro the Liddel-rack,
And also thro the Carlisle sands;
They brought him to Carlisle castell,
To be at my Lord Scroope’s commands.
5
‘My hands are tied, but my tongue is free,
And whae will dare this deed avow?
Or answer by the border law?
Or answer to the bauld Buccleuch?’
6
‘Now haud thy tongue, thou rank reiver!
There’s never a Scot shall set ye free;
Before ye cross my castle-yate,
I trow ye shall take farewell o me.’
7
‘Fear na ye that, my lord,’ quo Willie;
‘By the faith o my bodie, Lord Scroop,’ he said,
‘I never yet lodged in a hostelrie
But I paid my lawing before I gaed.’
8
Now word is gane to the bauld Keeper,
In Branksome Ha where that he lay,
That Lord Scroope has taen the Kinmont Willie,
Between the hours of night and day.
9
He has taen the table wi his hand,
He garrd the red wine spring on hie;
‘Now Christ’s curse on my head,’ he said,
‘But avenged of Lord Scroop I’ll be!
10
‘O is my basnet a widow’s curch?
Or my lance a wand of the willow-tree?
Or my arm a ladye’s lilye hand?
That an English lord should lightly me.
11
‘And have they taen him Kinmont Willie,
Against the truce of Border tide,
And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch
Is keeper here on the Scottish side?
12
‘And have they een taen him Kinmont Willie,
Withouten either dread or fear,
And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch
Can back a steed, or shake a spear?
13
‘O were there war between the lands,
As well I wot that there is none,
I would slight Carlisle castell high,
Tho it were builded of marble-stone.
14
‘I would set that castell in a low,
And sloken it with English blood;
There’s nevir a man in Cumberland
Should ken where Carlisle castell stood.
15
‘But since nae war’s between the lands,
And there is peace, and peace should be,
I’ll neither harm English lad or lass,
And yet the Kinmont freed shall be!’
16
He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,
I trow they were of his ain name,
Except Sir Gilbert Elliot, calld
The Laird of Stobs, I mean the same.
17
He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,
Were kinsmen to the bauld Buccleuch,
With spur on heel, and splent on spauld,
And gleuves of green, and feathers blue.
18
There were five and five before them a’,
Wi hunting-horns and bugles bright;
And five and five came wi Buccleuch,
Like Warden’s men, arrayed for fight.
19
And five and five like a mason-gang,
That carried the ladders lang and hie;
And five and five like broken men;
And so they reached the Woodhouselee.
20
And as we crossd the Bateable Land,
When to the English side we held,
The first o men that we met wi,
Whae sould it be but fause Sakelde!
21
‘Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?’
Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell to me!’
‘We go to hunt an English stag,
Has trespassd on the Scots countrie.’
22
‘Where be ye gaun, ye marshal-men?’
Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell me true!’
‘We go to catch a rank reiver,
Has broken faith wi the bauld Buccleuch.’
23
‘Where are ye gaun, ye mason-lads,
Wi a’your ladders lang and hie?’
‘We gang to herry a corbie’s nest,
That wons not far frae Woodhouselee.’
24
‘Where be ye gaun, ye broken men?’
Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell to me!’
Now Dickie of Dryhope led that band,
And the nevir a word o lear had he.
25
‘Why trespass ye on the English side?
Row-footed outlaws, stand!’ quo he;
The neer a word had Dickie to say,
Sae he thrust the lance thro his fause bodie.
26
Then on we held for Carlisle toun,
And at Staneshaw-bank the Eden we crossd;
The water was great, and meikle of spait,
But the nevir a horse nor man we lost.
27
And when we reachd the Staneshaw-bank,
The wind was rising loud and hie;
And there the laird garrd leave our steeds,
For fear that they should stamp and nie.
28
And when we left the Staneshaw-bank,
The wind began full loud to blaw;
But ’twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet,
When we came beneath the castel-wa.
29
We crept on knees, and held our breath,
Till we placed the ladders against the wa;
And sae ready was Buccleuch himsell
To mount the first before us a’.
30
He has taen the watchman by the throat,
He flung him down upon the lead:
‘Had there not been peace between our lands,
Upon the other side thou hadst gaed.
31
‘Now sound out, trumpets!’ quo Buccleuch;
‘Let’s waken Lord Scroope right merrilie!’
Then loud the Warden’s trumpets blew
‘O whae dare meddle wi me?’
32
Then speedilie to wark we gaed,
And raised the slogan ane and a’,
And cut a hole thro a sheet of lead,
And so we wan to the castel-ha.
33
They thought King James and a’ his men
Had won the house wi bow and speir;
It was but twenty Scots and ten
That put a thousand in sic a stear!
34
Wi coulters and wi forehammers,
We garrd the bars bang merrilie,
Untill we came to the inner prison,
Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie.
35
And when we cam to the lower prison,
Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie,
‘O sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie,
Upon the morn that thou’s to die?’
36
‘O I sleep saft, and I wake aft,
It’s lang since sleeping was fleyd frae me;
Gie my service back to my wyfe and bairns,
And a’gude fellows that speer for me.’
37
Then Red Rowan has hente him up,
The starkest men in Teviotdale:
‘Abide, abide now, Red Rowan,
Till of my Lord Scroope I take farewell.
38
‘Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope!
My gude Lord Scroope, farewell!’ he cried;
‘I’ll pay you for my lodging-maill
When first we meet on the border-side.’
39
Then shoulder high, with shout and cry,
We bore him down the ladder lang;
At every stride Red Rowan made,
I wot the Kinmont’s airns playd clang.
40
‘O mony a time,’ quo Kinmont Willie,
‘I have ridden horse baith wild and wood;
But a rougher beast than Red Rowan
I ween my legs have neer bestrode.
41
‘And mony a time,’ quo Kinmont Willie,
‘I’ve pricked a horse out oure the furs;
But since the day I backed a steed
I nevir wore sic cumbrous spurs.’
42
We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank,
When a’the Carlisle bells were rung,
And a thousand men, in horse and foot,
Cam wi the keen Lord Scroope along.
43
Buccleuch has turned to Eden Water,
Even where it flowd frae bank to brim,
And he has plunged in wi a’his band,
And safely swam them thro the stream.
44
He turned him on the other side,
And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he:
‘If ye like na my visit in merry England,
In fair Scotland come visit me!’
45
All sore astonished stood Lord Scroope,
He stood as still as rock of stane;
He scarcely dared to trew his eyes
When thro the water they had gane.
46
‘He is either himsell a devil frae hell,
Or else his mother a witch maun be;
I wad na have ridden that wan water
For a’the gowd in Christentie.’
187
JOCK O THE SIDE
A. ‘John a Side,’ Percy MS., p. 254; Hales and Furnivall, II, 203.
B. ‘Jock o the Side.’ a. Caw’s Poetical Museum, 1784, p. 145. b. Campbell, Albyn’s Anthology, II, 28, 1818.
C. ‘John o the Side,’ Percy Papers, as collected from the memory of an old person in 1775.
D. Percy Papers, fragment from recitation, 1774.
The copy in Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1802, I, 154, 1833, II, 76, is B b, with the insertion of three stanzas (6, 7, 23) from B a. Neither Campbell nor Scott has the last stanza of B a. Campbell says, in a note to his copy: The melody and particularly the words of this Liddesdale song were taken down by the editor from the singing and recitation of Mr Thomas Shortreed, who learnt it from his father. As to the words (except in the omission of four stanzas), b does not differ significantly from a, and it may, with little hesitation, be said to have been derived from a. Campbell seems to have given this copy to Scott, who published it sixteen years before it appeared in the Anthology, with the addition already mentioned.[[317]] The copy in the Campbell MSS, I, 220, is B a.
The earliest appearance of John o the Side is, perhaps, in the list of the marauders against whom complaint was made to the Bishop of Carlisle “presently after” Queen Mary Stuart’s departure for France; not far, therefore, from 1550: “John of the Side (Gleed John).”
Mr R. B. Armstrong has printed two bonds in which John Armstrong of the Syde is a party, with others, of the date 1562 and 1563. History of Liddesdale, etc., Appendix, pp ciii, civ, Nos LXV, LXVI.
The earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, after the failure of the Rising in the North, fled first to Liddesdale, and thence “to one of the Armstrongs,” in the Debateable Land. The Liddesdale men stole the Countess of Northumberland’s horses, and the earls, continuing their flight, left her “on foot, at John of the Syde’s house, a cottage not to be compared to any dog-kennel in England.” At his departing, “my lord of Westmoreland changed his coat of plate and sword with John of the Syde, to be the more unknown:” Sussex to Cecil, December 22, 1569, printed in Sharp’s Memorials of the Rebellion, p. 114 f.
John is nephew to the laird of Mangerton in B 1, 3, 4, C 1, 3, and therefore cousin to the Laird’s Jock and the Laird’s Wat:[[318]] but this does not appear in A.
Sir Richard Maitland commemorates both John of the Syde and the Laird’s Jock in his verses on the thieves of Liddesdale:
He is weill kend, Johne of Syde,
A greater theife did never ryd:
He never tyres
For to brek byres,
Our muire and myres our guid ane gyde.
(MS., fol. 4, back, line 13.)
An Archie Armstrang in Syde is complained of, with others, in 1596, for burning eleven houses (Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, V, 294), and Christie of the Syde is “mentioned in the list of border clans, 1597” (Scott).
In Blaeu’s map of Liddesdale, “Syid” is on the right bank of the Liddel, nearly opposite Mangerton, but a little higher up the stream.
A. John a Side has been taken in a raid[[319]] and carried prisoner to Newcastle. Sybill o the Side (his mother, 20) runs by the water with the news to Mangerton, where lords and ladies are ready to sell all their cattle and sheep for John’s ransom. But Hobby Noble says that with five men he would fetch John back. The laird offers five thousand, but Hobby will take only five. They will not go like men of war, but like poor corn-dealers, and their steeds must be barefoot. When they come to Chollerton, on the Tyne, the water is up. Hobby asks an old man the way over the ford. The old man in threescore years and three has never seen horse go over except a horse of tree; meaning, we may suppose, a foot-bridge. In spite of the old man they find a way where they can cross in pairs. In Howbram wood they cut a tree of three-and-thirty foot, and with help of this, or without it, they climb to the top of the castle, where John is making his farewells to his mother, the lord of Mangerton, Much the Miller’s son, and “Lord Clough.” Hobby Noble calls to John to say that he has come to loose him;[[320]] John fears that it will not be done. Two men keep the horses, and four break the outer door (John himself breaking five doors within) and come to the iron door. The bell strikes twelve. Much the Miller fears they will be taken, and even John despairs of success. Hobby is not daunted; he files down the iron door and takes John out. John in his bolts can neither sit nor stride; Hobby ties the chains to John’s feet, and says John rides like a bride. As they go through Howbram town John’s horse stumbles, and Much is again in a panic, which seems to show that John’s commendation of him in 22 applies rather to his capacity as a thief than to his mettle. In Howbram wood they file off John’s bolts at the feet. Now, says Hobby, leap over a horse! and John leaps over five. They have no difficulty in fording the Tyne on their return, and bring John home to Mangerton without further trouble.
It is Hobby Noble, then, that looses John in A, as he is said to have done in his own ballad, st. 27; but in B, C the Laird’s Jock takes the lead, and Hobie plays a subordinate part. The Laird’s Wat replaces the faint-hearted Much (who, however, is again found in the fragment D); Sybil of the Side becomes Downie (in D Dinah); the liberating party is but three instead of six.
The laird in B orders the horses to be shod the wrong way,[[321]] whereas in A the shoes were taken off; and the party must not seem to be gentlemen, Heaven save the mark! but look like corn-cadgers, as in A. At Cholerford they cut a tree with fifteen nags, B 11, C with fifty nags, on each side, D twenty snags, and three long ones on the top; but when they come to Newcastle it proves to be too short, as the ladders are in the historical account of the release of Kinmont Willie. The Laird’s Jock says they must force the gate. A proud porter withstands them; they wring his neck, and take his keys, B 13, 14, C 10 (cf. No 116, st. 65, No 119, 70, 71, and III, 95 note [[86]]). When they come to the jail, they let Jock know that they mean to free him; he is hopeless; the day is come he is to die; fifteen stone of iron (fifty, C) is laid on him. Work thou within and we without, says the Laird’s Jock. One door they open and one they break. The Laird’s Jock gets John o the Side on his back and takes him down the stair, declining help from Hobie. They put the prisoner on a horse, with the same jest as before; the night is wet, as it was when Kinmont Willie was loosed, but they hie on merrily. They had no trouble in crossing the Tyne when they were coming, but now it is running like a sea. The old man had never seen it so big; the Laird Wat says they are all dead men. Set the prisoner on behind me, cries the gallant Laird’s Jock, and they all swim through. Hardly have they won the other side when twenty Englishmen who are pursuing them reach the river. The land-sergeant says that the water will not ride, and calls to them to throw him the irons; they may have the rogue. The Laird’s Jock answers that he will keep the irons to shoe his grey mare.[[322]] They bring John to Liddesdale, and there they free him of his irons, B. Now, John, they say, ‘the day was come thou wast to die;’ but thou’rt as well at thy own fireside.
In D 5 they cut their mares’ tails before starting, and never stop running till they come to Hathery Haugh. Tyne is running like a sea when they come to Chollerton, on their way to the rescue, as in A. They cut their tree in Swinburn wood. When they are to re-cross the river, Much says his mare is young and will not swim; the Laird’s Jock (?) says, Take thou mine, and I’ll take thine.
The ballad is one of the best in the world, and enough to make a horse-trooper of any young borderer, had he lacked the impulse. In deference to history, it is put after Kinmont Willie, for it may be a free version of his story.