From Ritson's Bishopric Garland (p. 54), with one
or two slight verbal improvements from the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ii. 101.
Rookhope stands in a pleasant place,
If the false thieves wad let it be,
But away they steal our goods apace,
And ever an ill death may they dee!
And so is the men of [Thirlwall] and Willie-haver,5
And all their companies thereabout,
That is minded to do mischief,
And at their stealing stands not out.
But yet we will not slander them all,
For there is of them good enow;10
It is a sore consumed tree
That on it bears not one fresh bough.
Lord God! is not this a pitiful case,
That men dare not drive their goods to the fell,
But limmer thieves drives them away,15
That fears neither heaven nor hell?
Lord, send us peace into the realm,
That every man may live on his own!
I trust to God, if it be his will,
That Weardale men may never be overthrown.20
For great troubles they've had in hand,
With borderers pricking hither and thither,
But the greatest fray that e'er they had,
Was with the men of Thirlwall and Willie-haver.
They gather'd together so royally,25
The stoutest men and the best in gear;
And he that rade not on a horse,
I wat he rade on a weel-fed mear.