[8] This passage is reminiscent of the saying of the famous Border outlaw Jock Eliot, when he and his men came upon a large haystack of which they resolved to make fodder for their horses. “Eh, man,” exclaimed the humorous raider, “if ye had legs, wouldna’ ye run!”
[9] The commencement of the passage in question is as follows (lines 1741–50):
The heraldz laften here prikyng up and doun;
Now ryngede the tromp and clarioun:
Ther is no more to say, but est and west
In goth the speres ful sadly in arest;
Ther seen men who can juste, and who can ryde;
In goth the scharpe spore into the side,
Ther schyveren schaftes upon schuldres thykke;
He feeleth through the herte-spon the prikke.