For it's nae man that I'm used like;110
I'm but like a forfoughen hound,
Has been fighting in a dirty syke."
Then they hae tane him up thro' Carlisle town,
And set him by the chimney fire;
They gave brave Noble a wheat loaf to eat,115
And that was little his desire.
Then they gave him a wheat loaf to eat
And after that a can o' beer;
Then they cried a', wi' ae consent,
"Eat, brave Noble, and make good cheer.120
"Confess my lord's horse, Hobie," they say,
"And the morn in Carlisle thou's no die;"
"How shall I confess them?" Hobie says,
"For I never saw them with mine eye."
Then Hobie has sworn a fu' great aith—125
By the day that he was gotten or born,
He never had onything o' my lord's,
That either eat him grass or corn.
"Now fare thee weel, sweet [Mangerton]!
For I think again I'll ne'er thee see:130
I wad betray nae lad alive,
For a' the goud in Christentie.
"And fare thee weel, now Liddisdale,
Baith the hie land and the law!
Keep ye weel frae traitor Mains!135
For goud and gear he'll sell ye a'.
"I'd rather be ca'd Hobie Noble,
In Carlisle, where he suffers for his faut,
Before I were ca'd traitor Mains,
That eats and drinks of meal and maut."140
[13]. Kershope-burn, where Hobbie met his treacherous companions, falls into the Liddel, from the English side, at a place called Turnersholm, where, according to tradition, tourneys and games of chivalry were often solemnized.—S.