And then bespake noble K_ing_ Henery,
And these were the words said hee:
Sayes, Come hither, Row_land_ Egerton, k_nigh_t,
And come thou hither vnto mee;
108
For the good service _tha_t thou hast done,
Well rewarded shalt thou bee.
Then forth came Row_land_ Egerton,
And kneeled downe vpon his knee.
109
Saies, If it like yo_u_r Grace, my gracious k_ing_,
The reward _tha_t you will bestow on mee,
I wold verry gladlye haue it in Cheshire,
Ffor _tha_t’s att home in my owne country.
110
And then bespake him noble K_ing_ Henery,
And these were the words said hee;
‘I haue nothing, Egerton, in all Cheshire
_Tha_t wilbe any pleasure for thee
But fiue mills stands att Chester townes end;
The gone all ouer the water of Dee.’
111
Still kneeled Row_land_ Egerton,
And did not rise beside his knee;
Sayes, If it like yo_u_r Highnesse, my gracious k_ing_,
A milner called I wold neuer bee.
112
And then bespake him noble K_ing_ Harrye,
These were the words said hee;
Saith, I’le make mine avow to God,
And alsoe to the Trinitye,
There shall neu_er_ be k_ing_ of England
But the shalbe miller of the mills of Dee!
113
I haue noe other thing, Egerton,
_Tha_t wilbe for thy delight;
I will giue thee the forrest of Snoden in Wales,
Wherby thou may giue the horne and lease;
In siluer it wilbe verry white,
And meethinkes shold thee well please.
114
. . . . . . . . .
Still kneeled Row_land_ Egerton on his knee;
He sayes, If itt like yo_u_r Highnes, my gracious k_ing_,
A ranger called wold I neuer bee.
115
Then our k_ing_ was wrath_e_, and rose away,
Sayes, I thinke, Egerton, nothing will please thee.
And then bespake him, Row_land_ Egerton,
Kneeling yet still on his knee:
116
Sayes, If itt like yo_u_r Highnesse, my gracious k_ing_,
_Tha_t yo_u_r Highnes pleasure will now heer mee,
In Cheshire there lyes a litle grange-house,
In the lo_rd_sh[i]ppe of Rydeley it doth lyee.
117
A tanner there in it did dwell;
My leege, it is but a cote w_i_th one eye,
And if yo_u_r Grace wold bestow this on mee,
Ffull well it wold pleasure me.
118
Then bespake our noble K_ing_ Harrye,
And these were the words saith hee;
Saies, Take thee _tha_t grange-house, Egerton,
And the lo_rd_shippe of Rydley, faire and free.
119
For the good service thou hast to me done,
I will giue it vnto thy heyres and thee:
And thus came Row[land] Egertton
To the lo_rd_shippe of Rydley, faire and free.
· · · · ·
120
This noble K_ing_ Harry wan great victoryes in France,
Thorrow the might _tha_t Christ Jesus did him send.
First our k_ing_ wan Hans and Gynye,
And [two] walled townes, the truth to say;
And afterwards wan other two townes,
The names of them were called Turwin and Turnay.
121
High Bullen and Base Bullen he wan alsoe,
And other village-townes many a one,
And Muttrell he wan alsoe—
The cronicles of this will not lye—
And kept to Calleis, plainsht w_i_th Englishmen,
Vnto the death _tha_t he did dye.
* * * * *
#a.#
4^2. soliders.
16^4. them.
17^3. 8^{th}.
20^3. wright.
20^4. vs 2.
31^4. 7[th .].
35^1. feele.
35^4. xopher Savage, _and again_ 45^1: always _for_ away.
41^1. vndeline.
45^1. K_nigh_t _for_ wighte.
52^{2,3}. 9.
52^4. 3.
53^2. whore.
53^4. white.
56^3. giue: p_ro_ _for_ for.
57^2. wright.
58^1. Lookes _for_ bookes. 2d Parte _at_ 59^3.
59^6. 2: 3.
61^2. 30.
65^1. Ianie.
79^3. 7.
79^4. 8^{th}: breake _for_ flee, _cf._ #b#, #c#.
83^4. ward: _cf._ #b#.
84^3. I cry _for_ a cry: a _in_ #b#, #c#.
89^4. who his _for the first_ who is.
94^3. 7.
95^1. Maurydden.
102^4, 104^4. 3.
103. 121 _in the MS._
104^6. 1000[s :] 3.
105^2. 1000[d :] 3.
106^1. 300[d :].
110^5. 5.
112^6. he _for_ the?
117^4. me pleasure.
120^5. 2.
And _for_ & _always_.
#b#, #c#.
_In stanzas of eight lines._ #b.# A ballate of the Battalle of
Ffloden Ffeeld betweene the Earle of Surrey and the King of
Scots. #c.# Flowden Feilde.
_Trivial variations of spelling are not regarded._
1^1. of the.
1^2. our fortune and chaunce.
1^3. tell of. #b.# tythandes. #c.# tythance.
2^2. surly _after_ And: his _wanting_.
3^1. at _for_ to.
3^2. #b.# lorde _for_ leed. #b#, #c#. great _for_ high.
3^4. #b.# found Henry our kynge.
4^5–7^6. _Two stanzas, the first ending at 6^2._
4^5. the prince.
4^6. #c.# Iesu.
5^2. he kneeled vppon.
5^4. King _wanting_.
6^4. and _for the second_ my.
7^3. biddethe.
7^5. ye.
8^2. _Prefix_ And.
8^3. bare: uppon, upon, _for_ of. #b.# them _for_ him.
9^2. they bene both.
9^3. non _for_ nere. #b.# belonged.
10^1. #b.# a stand.
10^2. And he.
10^4. _First_ he _wanting_. #b.# tould (_corrected from_ coulde?)
_for_ found.
11^1. #b.# noble _for_ comlye.
11^2. And he.
12^1. #b.# C. and L. #b#, #c# _add_ bothe.
12^2. the _wanting_.
12^4. Not a.
13^3. King _wanting_.
13^4. #b#, And it, #c#, Yf it, like you my souereigne lord.
14^1. #c.# bene.
14^2. #c.# tythandes.
15^3. #b.# L. nor C. mene.
15^4. #b.# wold euer.
16^2. on _for_ vpon a.
16^3. For now: greatest _for_ most.
16^4. then served they _for_ they serued then.
17^4. And _for_ If.
18^1. ye: any _wanting_.
18^3. #c.# ye.
18^4. #b.# whether (_altered from_ wher) that wee are.
19^1. #b.# rounded. #b#, #c#. anon _added to_ king.
19^2. And _wanting_. #b.# Sayenge.
19^3. to thee _wanting_.
21^1. #b.# neuer a: besydes.
21^4. #b.# right angerly.
22^1. other syde.
22^4. lowly he.
23^3. #b.# our king sayde. #c.# speake.
23^4. #b.# Was _for_ Sayd.
24^1. #c.# L. and C.
24^2. was _for_ were.
24^3. nowe _inserted before_ are.
24^4. #b.# Neuer a one of them. #c.# Neuer one of them ys (_but_
are, _in a later hand_).
25^1. #c.# then _for_ free.
26^4. #b.# fled a foote.
27^2. #b.# to _for_ itt.
28^1. to brene, bren.
28^2. _First_ me _wanting_.
28^3. _First_ I _wanting_: all to. #b.# gates.
28^4. #b.# Bothe the.
29^1. walles they.
29^3. then sayd.
30^1. and _for_ nor.
30^2. #c.# thyne.
30^3. #b.# freely _for_ felly.
31^2. for me _for_ on tree.
32^2. #b.# To the towne of.
32^3. we _after_ soe.
33^2. #b.# vppon the same _for_ againe. #c.# in same, _but_ on the
_for_ in, _in a later hand_.
33^3. side, syde, _for_ hande.
34^4. #b.# duke _for_ erle.
35^1. Synce: feelde, feylde.
35^2. #c.# thyne: theare, there _for_ deere.
35^4. awaye _for_ always.
36^3. #c.# therby _added by a later hand_.
37^3. #c.# myne.
37^4. #c.# art _altered to_ weart.
38^1. whileste that, whiles that.
38^2. schunte besides.
38^4. nowe _before_ that.
39^1. #b.# for _before_ coward, #b#, #c#. none _for_ neuer.
39^4. be my.
40^2. the _for_ that.
40^3. #b.# Sotheworthe. #c.# Sothewarke _altered to_ Sotheworthe.
41^3. #c.# whilest.
41^4. schunte.
42^1. #b.# Anderton.
42^3. leaue nowe. #b.# at _altered to_ of.
43^3. For whileste, For whiles.
43^4. wouldeste (#c# woulde) neuer beside the playne.
44^1. #b.# Bolde.
44^2. ye.
44^3. stylle, still.
44^4. Vnslayne nowe yf, (#b#) that you bee, (#c#) you had bee.
45^1. weighte, wighte.
45^3. #b.# whileste.
45^4. woldeste, wouldest: beside.
46^1. Done, Downe.
46^2. Ye.
46^4. #b.# woldeste.
47^1. #b.# Seton _altered to_ Fitton.
47^2. Other.
47^3. _Prefix_ For: whiles.
47^4. woldeste, wouldest.
48^3. ffor _wanting_.
49^2. #c.# tythands.
49^4. myne.
51^4. #c.# lawne.
52^2. beareste, bearest.
52^3. in the vtter.
53^2. whore.
53^4. Wyte.
54^2. ronnethe, renneth. #b.# besydes.
54^3. #b.# was I.
54^4. #b.# I will.
55^1. Berkenhede, Byrkhead _altered to_ Byrkenhead.
55^4. #c.# the _wanting_.
56^2. myn, myne.
56^3. gaue: p_ro_ (_or_ for) _wanting_.
57^2. mayeste, maiest. #c.# yt clayme.
57^3. #c.# call _after_ may, _in a later hand_.
58^1. bookes, bokes.
58^2. comentye, comyntie.
58^3. Hopesdalle.
58^4. Mouldesdalle, Mouldesdale.
58^5. take my: hevie, heavie _for_ sorry.
59^3. Iames: Garsye, Garsyde.
59^6. stycked, sticked.
60^1. #b.# And after.
60^3. #b.# Iames.
60^4, 66^3. #c.# tythandes.
61^2. hadeste, had.
61^4. wearte for, were for.
62^2. will nowe.
63^1. #b.# Fitzwaters. #c.# Feighwater _altered to_ Fitzwater.
63^3, 71^1. #c.# vp _for_ ap.
63^4. And all they spake.
64^1. standen.
64^3. But _wanting_.
65^1, 73^3, 74^3, 82^3. #b.# Iames.
65^1. #c.# send.
65^4. Amydeste.
66^1. #c.# soe _wanting_.
66^3. #b.# makes.
67^4. non.
68^1. #c.# Feighwater. #b.# he followed.
69^1. #b.# hied _for_ hoved.
69^3. #b.# Osboldstone.
69^4. #b.# come.
70^3. #b.# wighty.
71^2. came forthe even with.
71^3. #c.# bend.
71^4. gallowes.
72^1. When as. #b.# the king.
72^3. #b.# minge.
72^4. _Prefix_ Said: vnto.
73^1. _Prefix_ But.
73^2. #c.# our owne _altered to_ yondere.
74^2. #c.# waste.
74^4. lyke, like, _for_ please.
75^4. vpbrayded that I _for_ I vpbrayded.
77^1. tooke me.
77^2. #b.# kepte.
78^3. of vewe.
79^4. #b.# did flee. #c.# be _altered to_ flie.
80^{1,2}. #b.# Then I layd the bowe one his face, and bade him
gather vpe the bowe, _etc._ #c.# geder.
80^4. for _wanting_.
82^1. had lyuer, leaver.
83^2. #c.# whiles, #b.# Frenche.
83^3. ye.
83^4. #b.# word.
84^3. Our prince: a cry.
85^2. #b.# settethe one and.
85^3. Yf that.
85^5. rebuketh. #b.# and _for_ or.
86^1. stylle at rest.
86^2. #b.# as _wanting_.
87^1. #b.# prince for king.
87^2. #b.# kneene, _rhyming with_ 86^{2,4}.
87^3. prince _for_ king.
87^4. This owere (#c# our) noble kynge this (#c# thy) speede may
be.
87^5. greetes (#c# gretteth) yow well your lyffe and spouse (#c#
liking).
87^6. Your honorable: fair ladye.
88^1. for to.
88^2. #b.# in-law _wanting_.
89^2. And sayd.
89^3. vppon, vpon, the _for_ of the.
89^4. And who weare, were, _bis_.
91^1. #b.# on highe, _originally_; _altered in the same hand to_
w_i_th ane highe word.
91^4. Ye, yea, _prefixed_: shalt thou.
92^2. As _for_ And.
92^3. #b.# thes _for_ the. #c.# tythands. #b.# _adds_ righte _at
the end_.
93^1. Brother _after_ hart.
93^2. #c.# tythandes.
93^3. #b.# this (_written upon_ thy) men cowards were they. #c.#
cowardes called _for_ called cowerds.
93^4. they _wanting_.
94^1. #b.# him _for_ the erle.
94^2. _adds_ trulye _at the end_. #b.# and lede him _for_ thus
they ledden.
94^5. haue from the taken.
94^6. agayne to thee.
95^1. #b.# marshallynge. #c.# manratten. #b.# men _for_ both.
95^2. for to. #b# _omits_ euer.
95^3. these. #b.# be.
95^4. #b.# be.
96^1. #b.# the earle saide.
96^4. for to.
97^1. #b.# our kinge sayd.
97^4. And _for_ If.
98^1. #b.# the earle nowe.
98^3. #b.# That I my selfe his iudgmente maye pronounce, #c.# But
that I gyve iudgment my selfe.
99^2. #b.# will I. #c.# that I shall.
99^3. shalt geue (gyue) the iudgment.
100^1. #b.# Then sayd the earle, saved is his lyfe.
100^3. If _wanting_.
101^1. #b.# our kyng sware.
101^2. remayneth: I thinke _wanting_.
101^4. #c.# the _wanting_.
102^1. #b.# they ganged.
102^3. #b# _adds_ batled _at the end_.
102^4. #b.# toweres. #c.# townes. #b#, #c#. w_i_thin.
103^5. #b.# weres.
103^6. #b.# And shewe thie mersye one the Earle of Derby.
104–121 _wanting._
169
JOHNIE ARMSTRONG
#A. a.# ‘A Northern Ballet,’ Wit Restord in severall Select Poems not
formerly publisht, London, 1658, p. 30, in Facetiæ, London, 1817, I,
132. #b.# ‘A Northern Ballad,’ Wit and Drollery, London, 1682, p.
57.
#B. a.# ‘John Arm-strongs last Good - Night,’ etc., Wood, 401, fol. 93
b, Bodleian Library. #b.# Pepys Ballads, II, 133, No 117. #c.#
‘Johnny Armstrongs last Good-Night,’ Old Ballads, 1723, I, 170.
#C.# ‘Johnie Armstrang,’ The Ever Green, 1724, II, 190.
#A b# is not found in Wit and Drollery, 1661; it is literally repeated
in Dryden’s Miscellanies, 1716, III, 307. #B# is in the Roxburghe
collection, III, 513, the Bagford, I, 64, II, 94, and no doubt in
others. It was printed by Evans, 1777, II, 64, and by Ritson, English
Songs, 1783, II, 322. #C# was printed by Herd, 1769, p. 260, 1776 (with
spelling changed), I, 13; by Ritson, Scotish Songs, 1794, II, 7; by
Scott, 1802, I, 49, 1833, I, 407 (with a slight change or two).
‘Ihonne Ermistrangis dance’ is mentioned in The Complaynt of Scotland,
1549, ed. Murray, p. 66. The tune of #C# is No 356 of Johnson’s Museum;
see further Stenhouse, in the edition of 1853, IV, 335 f.
Of his copy #C#, Ramsay says: “This is the true old ballad, never
printed before.... This I copied from a gentleman’s mouth of the name of
Armstrang, who is the sixth generation from this John. He tells me this
was ever esteemd the genuine ballad, the common one false.” Motherwell
remarks, Minstrelsy, p. lxii, note 3: “The common ballad alluded to by
Ramsay [#A#, #B#] is the one, however, which is in the mouths of the
people. His set I never heard sung or recited; but the other
frequently.” A manuscript copy of #B#, entitled Gillnokie, communicated
to Percy by G. Paton, Edinburgh, December 4, 1778, which has some of the
peculiar readings of #B a#, introduces the 27th stanza of #C#[225] in
place of 12, and has ‘Away, away, thou traitor strong’ for 12^1. A copy
in Buchan’s MSS, I, 61, ‘The Death of John Armstrong,’ has the first
half of #C# 18 and also of #C# 19 (with very slight variations). Another
Scottish copy, which was evidently taken from recitation, introduces #C#
23 after 14.[226]
Both forms of the ballad had been too long printed to allow validity to
any known recited copy. Besides the three already mentioned, there is
one in Kinloch’s MSS, V, 263, which intermixes two stanzas from Johnie
Scot. The Scottish copies naturally do not allow ‘Scot’ to stand in
17^3. Paton’s substitutes ‘chiell’; the others ‘man,’ and so a broadside
reprinted by Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs, Historical and
Traditionary, I, 130.
The Armstrongs were people of consideration in Liddesdale from the end,
or perhaps from the middle, of the fourteenth century, and by the
sixteenth had become the most important sept, as to numbers, in that
region, not only extending themselves over a large part of the
Debateable Land,[227] but spreading also into Eskdale, Ewesdale,
Wauchopedale, and Annandale. The Earl of Northumberland, in 1528, puts
the power of the Armstrongs, with their adherents, above three thousand
horsemen. Mangerton, in Liddesdale, on the east bank of the Liddel, a
little north of its junction with the Kersope, was the seat of the
chief. John Armstrong, known later as Gilnockie, a brother of Thomas,
laird of Mangerton, is first heard of in 1525. Removing from Liddesdale
early in the century, as it is thought, he settled on the church lands
of Canonby, and at a place called The Hollows, on the west side of the
Esk, built a tower, which still remains.[228]
Others of the Armstrongs erected strong houses in the neighborhood. Lord
Dacre, the English warden of the West Marches, essayed to surprise these
strengths in the early part of 1528, but was foiled by John and Sym
Armstrong, though he had a force of two thousand men. The Armstrongs, if
nominally Scots, were so far from being “in due obeysaunce” that, at a
conference of commissioners of both realms in November of the year last
named, the representatives of the Scottish king could not undertake to
oblige them to make redress for injuries done the English, though a
peace depended upon this condition. Perhaps the English border suffered
more than the Scottish from their forays (and the English border, we are
informed, was not nearly so strong as the Scottish, neither in
“capetayns nor the commynnaltie”), but how little Scotland was spared
appears from what Sym Armstrong, the laird of Whitlaugh, in the same
year again, told the Earl of Northumberland: that himself and his
adherents had laid waste in the said realm sixty miles, and laid down
thirty parish churches, and that there was not one in the realm of
Scotland dare remedy the same. Indeed, our John, Thomas of Mangerton,
Sym of Whitlaugh, and the rest, seem to be fairly enough described in an
English indictment as “enemies of the king of England, and traitors,
fugitives, and felons of the king of Scots.[229]
Other measures having failed, King James the Fifth, in the summer of
1530, took the pacifying of his borders into his own hand, and for this
purpose levied an army of from eight to twelve thousand men. The
particulars of this noted expedition are thus given by Lindsay of
Pitscottie.[230]
“The king ... made a convention at Edinburgh with all the lords and
barons, to consult how he might best stanch theiff and river within his
realm, and to cause the commons to live in peace and rest, which long
time had been perturbed before. To this effect he gave charge to all
earls, lords, barons, freeholders and gentlemen, to compeir at Edinburgh
with a month’s victual, to pass with the king to daunton the thieves of
Teviotdale and Annandale, with all other parts of the realm; also the
king desired all gentlemen that had dogs that were good to bring them
with them to hunt in the said bounds, which the most part of the
noblemen of the Highlands did, such as the earls of Huntly, Argyle, and
Athol, who brought their deer-hounds with them and hunted with his
majesty. These lords, with many other lords and gentlemen, to the number
of twelve thousand men, assembled at Edinburgh, and therefrom went with
the king’s grace to Meggat-land, in the which bounds were slain at that
time eighteen score of deer. After this hunting the king hanged John
Armstrong, laird of Kilnokie; which many a Scotsman heavily lamented,
for he was a doubtit man, and as good a chieftain as ever was upon the
borders, either of Scotland or of England. And albeit he was a
loose-living man, and sustained the number of twenty-four well-horsed
able gentlemen with him, yet he never molested no Scotsman.[231] But it
is said, from the Scots border to Newcastle of England, there was not
one, of whatsoever estate, but paid to this John Armstrong a tribute, to
be free of his cumber, he was so doubtit in England. So when he entered
in before the king, he came very reverently, with his foresaid number
very richly appareled, trusting that in respect he had come to the
king’s grace willingly and voluntarily, not being taken nor apprehended
by the king, he should obtain the more favor. But when the king saw him
and his men so gorgeous in their apparel, and so many braw men under a
tyrant’s commandment, throwardlie he turned about his face, and bade
take that tyrant out of his sight, saying, What wants yon knave that a
king should have? But when John Armstrong perceived that the king
kindled in a fury against him, and had no hope of his life,
notwithstanding of many great and fair offers which he offered to the
king—that is, that he should sustain himself, with forty gentlemen, ever
ready to await upon his majesty’s service, and never to take a penny of
Scotland nor Scotsmen; secondly, that there was not a subject in
England, duke, earl, lord, or baron, but within a certain day he should
bring any of them to his majesty, quick or dead—he, seeing no hope of
the king’s favor towards him, said very proudly, I am but a fool to seek
grace at a graceless face. But had I known, sir, that ye would have
taken my life this day, I should have lived upon the borders in despite
of King Harry and you both; for I know King Harry would down weigh my
best horse with gold to know that I were condemned to die this day. So
he was led to the scaffold, and he and all his men hanged.”
Buchanan’s account is, that the king undertook an expedition for the
suppressing of freebooters in July, 1530, with an army of about eight
thousand men, and encamped at Ewes water, near which was the hold of
John Armstrong, a chief of a band of thieves, who had struck such terror
into the parts adjacent that even the English for many miles about paid
him tribute. Under enticement of the king’s officers, John set out to
pay a visit to the king with about fifty horsemen, both unarmed and
without a safe-conduct, and on his way fell in with a body of scouts,
who took him to their master as a pretended prisoner, and he and most of
his men were hanged. The authors of his death averred that Armstrong had
promised the English to put the neighboring Scots territory under their
sway, if they would make it for his interest; whereas the English were
extremely pleased at his death, because they were rid of a redoubtable
enemy.[232]
Bishop Lesley says simply that in the month of June (apparently 1529)
the king passed to the borders with a great army, where he caused
forty-eight of the most noble thieves, with John Armstrong, their
captain, to be taken, who being convict of theft, reiff, slaughter, and
treason, were all hanged upon growing trees.[233]
Another account gives us positively and definitely to understand that
the Armstrongs were not secured without artifice. “On the eighth of June
the principals of all the surnames of the clans on the borders came to
the king, upon hope of a proclamation proclaimed in the king’s name that
they should all get their lives if they would come in and submit
themselves in the king’s will. And so, upon this hope, John Armstrong,
who kept the castle of Langholm (a brother of the laird of Mangerton’s,
a great thief and oppressor, and one that kept still with him four and
twenty well-horsed men), came in to the king; and another called Ill
Will Armstrong, another stark thief, with sundry of the Scotts and
Elliotts, came all forward to the camp where the king was, in hope to
get their pardons. But no sooner did the king perceive them, and that
they were come afar off, when direction was given presently to enclose
them round about; the which was done, accordingly, and were all
apprehended, to the number of thirty-five persons, and at a place called
Carlaverock Chapel were all committed to the gallows.... The English
people was exceeding glad when they understood that John Armstrong was
executed, for he did great robberies and stealing in England,
maintaining twenty-four men in household every day upon reiff and
oppression.”[234]
The place of execution is mentioned by no other historian than Anderson,
just quoted, and he gives it as Carlaverock Chapel. But this must be a
mistake for Carlenrig Chapel, Carlaverock not being in the line of the
king’s progress. James is known to have been at Carlenrig[235] on the
5th of July, and Johnie Armstrong not to have been alive on the eighth.
It has been popularly believed that Johnie and his band were buried in
Carlenrig churchyard (where the graves used to be shown), and their
execution made so deep an impression on the people[236] that it is not
unplausible that the fact should be remembered, and that the ballad #C#,
in saying that John was murdered at Carlenrig, has followed tradition
rather than given rise to it.
It appears from Lindsay’s narrative that Johnie Armstrong came to the
king voluntarily, and that he was not “taken or apprehended.” Buchanan
says that he was enticed by the king’s officers, and Anderson that the
heads of the border-clans were induced to come in by a proclamation that
their lives should be safe. It is but too likely, therefore, that the
capture was not effected by honorable means, and this is the
representation of the ballads. There is no record of a trial,[237] and
the execution was probably as summary as the arrest was perfidious.
The ballads treat facts with the customary freedom and improve upon them
greatly. In #A#, #B#, English ballads, Johnie is oddly enough a
Westmorland man,[238] though in #B# 11 he admits himself to be a subject
of the Scots king. The king writes John a long letter promising to do
him no wrong, #A# 4; a loving letter, to come and speak with him
speedily, #B# 4, #C# 2. Johnie goes to Edinburgh with the eight-score
men that he keeps in his hall, all in a splendid uniform, asks grace,
and is told that he and his eight-score shall be hanged the next
morning. They are not unarmed, and resolve to fight it out rather than
be hanged. They kill all the king’s guard but three, #B# 16, but all
Edinburgh rises; four-score and ten of Johnie’s men lie gasping on the
ground, #A# 14. A cowardly Scot comes behind Johnie and runs him
through; like Sir Andrew Barton, he bids his men fight on; he will bleed
awhile, then rise and fight again. Most of his company are killed, but
his foot-page escapes and carries the bad news to Giltnock Hall. His
little son, by or on the nurse’s knee, vows to revenge his father’s
death.