Now a senator of the College of Justice, by the title of Lord Woodhouselee.

William Tytler, Esq. the ingenious defender of Queen Mary, and author of a Dissertation upon Scotish Music, which does honour to his memory.

Sir Robert Kerr of Cessford, warden of the middle marches, and ancestor of the house of Roxburghe.

Owing to the marchmen being divided into large clans, bearing the same sirname, individuals were usually distinguished by some epithet, derived from their place of residence, personal qualities, or descent. Thus, every distinguished moss-trooper had, what is here called, a to-name, or nom de guerre, in addition to his family name.

Apparently some lines are here omitted.

This seems to allude to the old romance of Orfeo and Heurodis, from which the reader will find some extracts, Vol. II. The wife of Orpheus is here called Elpha, probably from her having been extracted by the elves, or fairies.

Alluding to a strange unintelligible poem in the Bannatyne MSS., called Cockelby's sow.

The wraith, or spectral appearance, of a person shortly to die, is a firm article in the creed of Scottish superstition. Nor is it unknown in our sister kingdom. See the story of the beautiful lady Diana Rich.—Aubrey's Miscellanies, p, 89.

See Introduction, p. ci.

For an account of the Fairy superstition, see Introduction to the Tale of Tamlane.

That the public might possess this carious fragment as entire as possible, the editor gave one of these copies, which seems the most perfect, to Mr. Robert Jamieson, to be inserted in his Collection.

In singing, the interjection, O, is added to the second and fourth lines.

Skeely skipper—Skilful mariner.

Gane—Suffice.

Half-fou—the eighth part of a peck.

Lap—Sprang.

Flattered—Fluttered, or rather floated, on the foam.

This old woman is still alive, and at present resides at Craig of Douglas, in Selkirkshire.

There exists also an indenture, or bond, entered into by Patrick, abbot of Kelsau, and his convent, referring to an engagement betwixt them and Sir Richard Maitland, and Sir William, his eldest son, concerning the lands of Hedderwicke, and the pasturages of Thirlestane and Blythe. This Patrick was abbot of Kelso, betwixt 1258 and 1260.

i.e. Similar family distress demands the same family courage.

Sewin sons—This must include sons-in-law; for the last Sir Richard, like his predecessor, had only three sons, namely, I. William, the famous secretary of Queen Mary; II. Sir John, who alone survived him, and is the Burd-allane of the consolation; III. Thomas, a youth of great hopes, who died in Italy. But he had four daughters, married to gentlemen of fortune.—Pinkerton's List of Scottish Poets, p. 114.

Grie and grie—In regular descent; from gre, French.

Such liberties with the genealogy of monarchs were common to romancers. Henry the Minstrel makes Wallace slay more than one of King Edward's nephews; and Johnie Armstrong claims the merit of slaying a sister's son of Henry VIII.

It is impossible to pass over this curious list of Scottish romances without a note; to do any justice to the subject would require an essay.—Raf Coilyear is said to have been printed by Lekprevik, in 1572; but no copy of the edition is known to exist, and the hero is forgotten, even by popular tradition.

John the Reif, as well as the former personage, is mentioned by Dunbar, in one of his poems, where he stiles mean persons,

Kyne of Rauf Colyard, and Johne the Reif.

They seem to have been robbers: Lord Hailes conjectured John the Reif to be the same with Johnie Armstrong; but, surely, not with his usual accuracy; for the Palice of Honour was printed twenty-eight years before Johnie's execution. John the Reif is mentioned by Lindesay, in his tragedy of Cardinal Beatoun.

—disagysit, like John the Raif, he geid.—

Cowkilbeis Sow is a strange legend in the Bannatyne MSS.—See Complaynt of Scotland, p. 131.

How the wren came out of Ailsay.—The wren, I know not why, is often celebrated in Scottish song. The testament of the wren is still sung by the children, beginning,

The wren she lies in care's nest,
Wi' meikle dole and pyne.

This may be a modification of the ballad in the text.

Peirs Plowman is well known. Under the uncouth names of Gow Mac Morn, and of Fyn MacCowl, the admirers of Ossian are to recognise Gaul, the son of Morni, and Fingal himself; heu quantum mutatus ab illo!

To illustrate the familiar character of Robin Hood, would be an insult to my readers. But they may be less acquainted with Gilbert with the White Hand, one of his brave followers. He is mentioned in the oldest legend of that outlaw; Ritson's Robin Hood, p. 52.

Thryes Robin shot about,
And alway he slist the wand,
And so dyde good Gylberte
With the White Hand.

Hay of Nachton I take to be the knight, mentioned by Wintown, whose feats of war and travel may have become the subject of a romance, or ballad. He fought, in Flanders, under Alexander, Earl of Mar, in 1408, and is thus described;

Lord of the Nachtane, schire William,
Ane honest knycht, and of gud fame,
A travalit knycht lang before than.

And again, before an engagement,

The lord of Nachtane, schire William
The Hay, a knycht than of gud fame,
Mad schire Gilberte the Hay, knycht.

Cronykil, B. IX. c. 27.

I apprehend we should read "How Hay of Nachton slew in Madin Land." Perhaps Madin is a corruption for Maylin, or Milan Land.

Waled—Chosen.

North-Berwick, according to some reciters.

Edward had quartered the arms of Scotland with his own.

The two first lines are modern, to supply an imperfect stanza.

This sort of bravade seems to have been fashionable in those times: "Et avec drapeaux, et leurs chaperons, ils torchoient les murs à l'endroit, ou les pierres venoient frapper."—Notice des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale.

The war-cries of their family.

By the terms of the peace betwixt England and Scotland, the Scottish were left at liberty to take service either with France or England, at their pleasure. Sir Robert Knolles, therefore, who commanded the expedition, referred to in the text, had under his command a hundred Scottish spears.

Assueton is a corruption for Swinton. Sir John Swinton, of Swinton, was a Scottish champion, noted for his courage and gigantic stature.

Their names were Robert Hart and Simon Glendinning. The chaplain was Richard Lundie, afterwards archdean of Aberdeen.—Godscroft. Hart, according to Wintown, was a knight. That historian says, no one knew how Douglas fell.

The banner of Douglas, upon this memorable occasion, was borne by his natural son, Archibald Douglas, ancestor of the family of Cavers, hereditary sheriffs of Teviotdale, amongst whose archives this glorious relique is still preserved. The earl, at his onset, is said to have charged his son to defend it to the last drop of his blood.

This prophecy occurs in the ballad as an ominous dream.

Hotspur, for his ransom, built the castle of Penoon, in Ayrshire, belonging to the family of Montgomery, now earls of Eglintoun.

Wintown assigns another cause for Douglas being carelessly armed.

"The erle Jamys was sa besy,
For til ordane his cumpany;
And on his Fays for to pas,
That reckles he of his armyng was;
The Erle of Mwrrawys Bassenet,
Thai sayd, at that tyme was feryhete."

Book VIII. Chap 7.

The circumstance of Douglas' omitting to put on his helmet, occurs in the ballad.

Fell.—Hide. Douglas insinuates, that Percy was rescued by his soldiers.

Fend.—Support.

Braken.—Fern.

Brow.

Southern, or English.

Afraid.

A ford on the Tweed, at the mouth of the Caddon Burn, near Yair.

In illustration of this position, the reader is referred to a long correspondence betwixt Lord Dacre and the Privy Council of England, in 1550, concerning one Sandye Armstrang, a partizan of England, and an inhabitant of the Debateable Land, who had threatened to become a Scottishman, if he was not protected by the English warden against the Lord Maxwell.—See Introduction to Nicholson and Burn's History of Cumberland and Westmoreland.

Whittram is a place in Liddesdale. It is mistaken by the noble editor for Whithern, in Galloway, as is Hartwesel (Haltwhistle, on the borders of Cumberland) for Twisel, a village on the English side of the Tweed, near Wark.

The foot of Liddisdale were the garrison of King James, in the castle of Hermitage, who assisted Carey on this occasion, as the Armstrongs were outlaws to both nations.

A haggis, (according to Burns, "the chieftain of the pudding-race,") is an olio, composed of the liver, heart, &c. of a sheep, minced down with oatmeal, onions, and spices, and boiled in the stomach of the animal, by way of bag. When the bag is cut, the contents, (if this savoury dish be well made) should spout out with the heated air. This will explain the allusion.

A Muffled Man means a person in disguise; a very necessary precaution for the guide's safety; for, could the outlaws have learned who played them this trick, beyond all doubt it must have cost him dear.

From this it would appear, that Carey, although his constant attendants in his fort consisted only of 200 horse, had, upon this occasion by the assistance, probably, of the English and Scottish royal garrisons, collected a much greater force.

There are now no trees in Liddesdale, except on the banks of the rivers, where they are protected from the sheep. But the stumps and fallen timber, which are every where found in the morasses, attest how well the country must have been wooded in former days.

The borderers, from their habits of life, were capable of most extraordinary exploits of this nature. In the year 1511, Sir Robert Ker of Cessford, warden of the middle marches of Scotland, was murdered at a border-meeting, by the bastard Heron, Starhead, and Lilburn. The English monarch delivered up Lilburn to justice in Scotland, but Heron and Starhead escaped. The latter chose his residence in the very centre of England, to baffle the vengeance of Ker's clan and followers. Two dependants of the deceased, called Tait, were deputed by Andrew Ker of Cessford to revenge his father's murder. They travelled through England in various disguises till they discovered the place of Starhead's retreat, murdered him in his bed, and brought his head in triumph to Edinburgh, where Ker caused it to be exposed at the cross. The bastard Heron would have shared the same fate, had he not spread abroad a report of his having died of the plague, and caused his funeral obsequies to be performed.—Ridpath's History, p. 481.—See also Metrical Account of the Battle of Flodden, published by the Rev. Mr. Lambe.

Kinnen—Rabbits.

Nicker—Neigh.

Gilt—Gold.

Dow—Able to.

Ganging—Going.

Lied—Lye.

Targats—Tassels.

Blink sae brawly—Glance so bravely.

Christopher.

Carped—Sung.

Cowt halter—Colt's halter.

Nicker and sneer—Neigh and snort.

Wad my hail fee—Bet my whole wages.

Fiend thing dought—Nothing could they do.

Ranshackled—Ransacked.

Gryming—Sprinkling.

Ca's—Calves.

Minnie—Mother.

Outspeckle.—Laughing-stock.

Toom—Empty.

Knapscap—Headpiece.

The Dinlay—is a mountain in Liddesdale.

Lourd—Rather.

Wudspurs—Hotspur, or Madspur.

Her ambassador at Edinburgh refused to lie in a bed of state which had been provided for him, till this "oudious fact" had been enquired into.—Murden's State Papers, Vol. II, p. 282.

Green—Long.

Weil beseen—Well appointed. The word occurs in Morte Arthur: "And when Sir Percival saw this, he hied him thither, "and found the ship covered with silke, more blacker than any beare; and therein was a gentlewoman, of great beautie, and she was richly beseene, that none might be better."

Lave—Remainder.

Palliones—Tents.

Cracking crouse—Talking big.

Rowes—Rolls.

Raxed him—Stretched himself up.

Red the cumber—Quell the tumult.

Cost—Signifies loss or risk.

Raise—Rose.

But, &c..—Till once his anger was up.

Genzie—Engine of war.

Flain—Arrows; hitherto absurdly printed slain.

Thirs—These are.

By—Besides.

The bishop is, in this last particular, rather inaccurate. Buccleuch was indeed delivered into England, but this was done in consequence of the judgment of commissioners of both nations, who met at Berwick this same year. And his delivery took place, less on account of the raid of Carlisle, than of a second exploit of the same nature, to be noticed hereafter.

Such traits of generosity illuminate the dark period of which we treat. Carey's conduct, on this occasion, almost atones for the cold and unfeeling policy with which he watched the closing moments of his benefactress, Elizabeth, impatient till remorse and sorrow should extort her last sigh, that he might lay the foundation of his future favour with her successor, by carrying him the first tidings of her death.—Carey's Memoirs, p. 172. et sequen. It would appear that Sir Robert Ker was soon afterwards committed to the custody of the archbishop of York; for there is extant a letter from that prelate to the lord-treasurer, desiring instructions about the mode of keeping this noble hostage. "I understand," saith he, "that the gentleman is wise and valiant, but somewhat haughty here, and resolute. I would pray your lordship, that I may have directions whether he may not go with his keeper in my company, to sermons; and whether he may not sometimes dine with the council, as the last hostages did; and, thirdly, whether he may sometimes be brought to sitting to the common-hall, where he may see how careful her majesty is that the poorest subject in her kingdom may have their right, and that her people seek remedy by law, and not by avenging themselves. Perhaps it may do him good as long as he liveth."—Strype's Annals, ad annum, 1597. It would appear, from this letter, that the treatment of the hostages was liberal; though one can hardly suppress a smile at the zeal of the good bishop for the conversion of the Scottish chieftain to a more christian mode of thinking than was common among the borderers of that day. The date is February 25. 1597, which is somewhat difficult to reconcile with those given by the Scottish historians—Another letter follows, stating, that Sir Robert, having been used to open air, prayed for more liberty for his health's sake, "offering his word, which it is said he doth chiefly regard, that he would be true prisoner."—Strype, Ibid.

Hostelrie—Inn.

Lawing—Reckoning.