26^2, 27^2. horses.
26^3, 27^1. Mary’s.
27^3. tane: his _wanting_.
28^3, 29^1. O where’s.
29^2. dinna.
29^3. Dickie’s been: this _wanting_.
30^1. it _wanting_.
31^1. But lend me thy bay, Johnie.
31^2. mae _wanting_.
31^3. ye _wanting_.
31^4. he shall.
32^2. worth baith.
32^4. na thou may make.
33^2. lieugh _wanting_.
33^4. he gane.
34^1. was na.
34^3. Till he’s oertane by Johnie A.
35^1. Abide, abide.
35^2. maun die.
35^3. Then _wanting_.
35^4. thy _wanting_.
36^4. neer ae.
37^2. third, neer let a traitor free.
37^3. But Johnie: hadst: traitor _wanting_.
38^1. tane away.
38^3. But sent thy.
39^2. to hae slain the innocent, I trow.
39^3. were mair than he.
39^4. For he.
40^4. But feld ’im.
41^1. has feld.
42^2. leiugh _wanting_.
43^1. Johnie.
43^3, 44^1. And is.
44^3. years.
44^4. I neer shall.
45^1. come.
45^3. I’ll neither eat nor.
45^4. hanged thou shalt.
46^4. Till I had got my.
47^2. gard thou steal him, quo he.
47^4. Ere: stawn frae.
48^3. Johnie.
49^3. And there’s.
49^4. let thee.
50^2. dare na.
50^3, 52^3, 53^1, 57^1, 58^3, 59^1. punds.
51^{3,4}. And that may be as good, I think, As ony twa o thine
might be.
52^4. els _wanting_: Mortan.
53^1. He’s gien.
54^1. Dickie came.
54^2. he might.
54^3. met with.
54^4. Glozenburrie.
56^{1,2}. wilt.
56^4. no ae fardin.
57^3. gi thee.
57^4. thy _wanting_.
58^4. Or he’s gae: Mortan.
60^1. fu hie.
60^2. laugh laughed.
60^4. if better can be.
61^1. Dickie’s.
61^2. fool sped.
62^1. these _for_ there.
62^3. a _accidentally wanting_: nagie.
63^1. bide _for_ dwell.
63^4. dwells he.
_Simple Scotticisms and ordinary contractions have generally not
been noted._
#c.#
_Reading of #b# are not repeated._
_Burden: after the first and the second verse_, Lal de ral,
_thrice_, la lal de; _at the end of the stanza_:
Lal lal de ridle la di, fal lal de ridle la di,
Fal lal di lal la, fal lal di ridle la.
2^1. Fair Johnie.
2^2. riding we will.
2^3. have been: at feid.
2^4. we’ll light.
3^1. they are come.
3^2. that proper, _as_ #a#.
4^1. For he.
5^1. ca.
5^4. And men they call.
6^2. there are.
7^1. they have come.
7^4. frae his.
8^2. rase.
9^2. ay where thou hast lost ae.
9^4. suith I shall.
10^1. Now Dickie’s gane to the gude Lord Scroop.
11^1. Shame fa your.
11^4. hae awa.
12^3. you.
13^4. Thou’lt.
15^1. leave o.
15^2. And _wanting_.
16^1. on to Pudding-burn house.
16^3. Then: on to.
17, 18 _wanting._
19^3. house last.
20^1. Ha quo fair.
20^2. then _wanting_.
20^3. Then up and spak: young Armstrang.
21^1. But up and spak.
21^3. down thy ways.
21^4. gie ye.
22^2. the neer.
22^3. Then was he aware.
23^4. Were I: amends: my gude.
24 _wanting._
25^2. they threw.
25^3. o that.
25^4. There will be a bootie for.
26^1. has into the stable gane.
27^4. And away as fast as he can hie.
28^1. But.
28^2. raise.
28^3. Ah, whae has done this.
29^1. Whae has done this deed.
29^2. See that to me.
29^4. has taen.
31^1. But lend me thy bay, Fair Johnie can say.
31^2. save he.
31^3. either fetch.
32 _wanting._
33^2. A: to hang by.
33^3. a _for_ the.
33^4. And galloped on to.
34^1. Then _wanting_: frae aff.
34^3. When he was: Fair J. A.
35–38 _wanting._
39^1. fu _for_ fa: _misprint?_
40^3. at him.
41^1. Thus.
41^4. hast.
42^1. the steil-jack aff Johnie’s back.
42^2. hang low.
43^4. The shame and dule is left wi me.
44^2. The deil.
44^3. these h. years.
45^1. hame to the good Lord Scroop.
45^2. he might hie.
46^4. Had I not got my leave frae.
47^1. garrd thee.
47^2. garrd ye.
47^3. thou mightst.
48^3. wan the horse frae Fair.
48^4. Hand to.
49^2. This: sword hang.
49^4. brought a’.
50^2. And I think thou dares.
50^3. fifteen pounds for the horse.
50^4. on thy.
51, 52 _wanting._
53^1. twenty pounds.
54^2. could drie.
55^1. Well be ye met.
55^3. didst.
56, 57, 58 _wanting._
59^1. twenty punds.
59^2. Baith in.
60^4. If ony of the twa were better than he.
61^1. Dickie’s come.
61^2. had sped.
61^3. twa score.
61^4. was _wanting_.
62^1. And tak.
63^2. they would.
63^3. So D.
63^4. And at.
186
KINMONT WILLIE
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, I, 111, 1802; II, 32, 1833.
This ballad celebrates a bold and masterly exploit of Sir Walter Scott
of Branxholm, laird of Buccleuch, which is narrated as follows by a
contemporary, Archbishop Spotiswood:[309]
“The Lord Scroop being then Warden of the West-Marches of England, and
the Laird of Bacleugh having the charge of Lidisdale, they sent their
deputies to keep a day of truce for redress of some ordinary matters.
The place of meeting was at the Dayholme of Kershop, where a small brook
divideth England from Scotland, and Lidisdale from Bawcastle. There met,
as deputy for the Laird of Bacleugh, Robert Scott of Hayninge, and for
the Lord Scroop, a gentleman within the West-Wardenry called Mr Salkeld.
These two, after truce taken and proclaimed, as the custom was, by sound
of trumpet, met friendly, and, upon mutual redress of such wrongs as
were then complained of, parted in good terms, each of them taking his
way homewards. Meanwhile it happened one William Armstrong, commonly
called Will of Kinmouth, to be in company with the Scottish deputy;
against whom the English had a quarrel for many wrongs he had committed,
as he was indeed a notorious thief. This man having taken his leave of
the Scots deputy, and riding down the river of Liddell on the Scottish
side, towards his own house, was pursued by the English that espied him
from the other side of the river, and after a chase of three or four
miles taken prisoner, and brought back to the English deputy, who
carried him away to the castle of Carlile.
“The Laird of Bacleugh complaining of the breach of truce (which was
always taken from the time of meeting unto the next day at sun-rising)
wrote to Mr Salkeld and craved redress. He excused himself by the
absence of the Lord Scroop. Whereupon Bacleugh sent to the Lord Scroop,
and desired the prisoner might be set at liberty, without any bond or
condition, seeing he was unlawfully taken. Scroop answered that he could
do nothing in the matter, it having so happened, without a direction
from the queen and council of England, considering the man was such a
malefactor. Bacleugh, loath to inform the king of what was done, lest it
might have bred some misliking betwixt the princes, dealt with Mr Bowes,
the resident ambassador of England, for the prisoner’s liberty: who
wrote very seriously to the Lord Scroop in that business, advising him
to set the man free, and not to bring the matter to a farther hearing.
But no answer was returned; the matter thereupon was imparted to the
king, and the queen of England solicited by letters to give direction
for his liberty; yet nothing was obtained. Which Bacleugh perceiving,
and apprehending both the king, and himself as the king’s officer, to be
touched in honor, he resolved to work the prisoner’s relief by the best
means he could.
“And upon intelligence that the castle of Carlile, wherein the prisoner
was kept, was surprisable, he employed some trusty persons to take a
view of the postern-gate, and measure the height of the wall, which he
meant to scale by ladders; and if those failed, to break through the
wall with some iron instruments, and force the gates. This done so
closely as he could, he drew together some two hundred horse, assigning
the place of meeting at the tower of Morton,[310] some ten miles from
Carlile, an hour before sun-set. With this company passing the water of
Esk about the falling, two hours before day he crossed Eden beneath
Carlile bridge (the water through the rain that had fallen being thick),
and came to the Sacery [Sacray], a plain under the castle. There making
a little halt at the side of a small bourn which they call Cadage
[Caday, Caldew], he caused eighty of the company to light from their
horses, and take the ladders and other instruments which he had prepared
with them. He himself, accompanying them to the foot of the wall, caused
the ladders to be set to it; which proving too short, he gave order to
use the other instruments for opening the wall, nigh the postern, and
finding the business like to succeed, retired to the rest whom he had
left on horseback, for assuring those that entered upon the castle
against any eruption from the town. With some little labor a breach was
made for single men to enter, and they who first went in brake open the
postern for the rest. The watchmen and some few the noise awaked made a
little restraint, but they were quickly repressed and taken captive.
After which they passed to the chamber wherein the prisoner was kept,
and having brought him forth, sounded a trumpet, which was a signal to
them without that the enterprise was performed. My Lord Scroop and Mr
Salkeld were both within the house, and to them the prisoner cried a
good-night. The captives taken in the first encounter were brought to
Bacleugh, who presently returned them to their master, and would not
suffer any spoil, or booty, as they term it, to be carried away. He had
straightly forbidden to break open any door but that where the prisoner
was kept, though he might have made prey of all the goods within the
castle and taken the warden himself captive; for he would have it seen
that he did intend nothing but the reparation of his Majesty’s honor. By
this time the prisoner was brought forth, the town had taken the alarm,
the drums were beating, the bells ringing, and a beacon put on the top
of the castle to give warning to the country. Whereupon Bacleugh
commanded those that entered the castle, and the prisoner, to horse, and
marching again by the Sacery, made to the river at the Stony bank, on
the other side whereof certain were assembled to stop his passage; but
he, causing sound the trumpet, took the river, day being then broken;
and they choosing to give him way, he retired in order through the
Grahams of Esk (men at that time of great power and his unfriends) and
came back into Scottish ground two hours after sun-rising, and so
homewards. This fell out the thirteenth of April, 1596.” (History of the
Church of Scotland, 1639, in the second edition, 1666, p. 413 ff.)
Lord Scroope, on the morning after, wrote thus to the Privy Council of
England:
“Yesternight, in the dead time thereof, Walter Scott of Hardinge and
Walter Scott of Goldylands, the chief men about Buclughe, accompanied
with five hundred horsemen of Buclughe and Kinmont’s friends, did come,
armed and appointed with gavlocks and crows of iron, hand-picks, axes,
and scaling-ladders, unto an outward corner of the base-court of this
castle, and to the postern-door of the same, which they undermined
speedily and quickly, and made themselves possessors of the base-court,
brake into the chamber where Will of Kinmont was, carried him away, and,
in their discovery by the watch, left for dead two of the watchmen, hurt
a servant of mine, one of Kinmont’s keepers, and were issued again out
of the postern before they were descried by the watch of the inner ward,
and ere resistance could be made. The watch, as it should seem, by
reason of the stormy night, were either on sleep or gotten under some
covert to defend themselves from the violence of the weather, by means
whereof the Scots achieved their enterprise with less difficulty.... If
Buclughe himself have been thereat in person, the captain of this proud
attempt, as some of my servants tell me they heard his name called upon
(the truth whereof I shall shortly advertise) then I humbly beseech that
her Majesty may be pleased to send unto the king to call for and
effectually to press his delivery, that he may receive punishment as her
Majesty shall find that the quality of his offence shall demerit.”[311]
MS. of the State Paper Office, in Tytler’s History, IX, 436.
Kinmont’s rapacity made his very name proverbial. “Mas James Melvine, in
urging reasons against subscribing the act of supremacy, in 1584, asks
ironically, Who shall take order with vice and wickedness? The court and
bishops? As well as Martine Elliot and Will of Kinmont with stealing
upon the borders!” Scott, Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 46.
Accordingly, when James was taking measures for bringing the refractory
ministers and citizens of Edinburgh into some proper subjection, at the
end of the year 1596, a report that Kinmont Willie was to be let loose
upon the city caused a lively consternation; “but too well grounded,”
says Scott, “considering what had happened in Stirling ten years before,
when the Earl of Angus, attended by Home, Buccleuch, and other border
chieftains, marched thither to remove the Earl of Arran from the king’s
councils: the town was miserably pillaged by the borderers, particularly
by a party of Armstrongs, under this very Kinmont Willie, who not only
made prey of horses and cattle, but even of the very iron grating of the
windows.” Minstrelsy, II, 45.
The ballad gives Buccleuch only forty men, and they are all of the name
of Scott except Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs: st. 16. A partial list of
the men who forced the castle was obtained by Lord Scroope. It includes,
as might be expected, not a few Armstrongs, and among them the laird of
Mangerton, Christy of Barngleish (son of Gilnockie), and four sons of
Kinmont Willie (he had at least seven); two Elliots, but not Sir
Gilbert; four Bells.[312] Scott of Satchells, in his History of the Name
of Scott, 1688, makes Sir Gilbert Elliot one of the party, but may have
taken this name from the ballad. (Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 43.)
Dick of Dryhope, 24, 25, was an Armstrong.[313] The ballad, again, after
cutting down Buccleuch’s men to thirty (st. 33) or forty (18, 19),
assigns the very liberal garrison of a thousand to the castle, 33; the
ladders are long enough, Buccleuch mounts the first,[314] the castle is
won, and Kinmont Willie, in his irons, is borne down the ladder on Red
Rowan’s[315] shoulders: all of which is as it should be in a ballad. And
so with the death of the fause Sakelde, though not a life seems to have
been lost in the whole course of the affair.
“This ballad,” says Scott, “is preserved by tradition in the West
Borders, but much mangled by reciters, so that some conjectural
emendations have been absolutely necessary to render it intelligible. In
particular, the Eden has been substituted for the Esk [in 26^2], the
latter name being inconsistent with geography.” It is to be suspected
that a great deal more emendation was done than the mangling of reciters
rendered absolutely necessary. One would like, for example, to see
stanzas 10–12 and 31 in their mangled condition.[316]
1. William Armstrong, called Will of Kinmonth, lived in Morton Tower, a
little above the Marchdike-foot. He appears, says Mr R. B. Armstrong, to
have been a son of Sandy, _alias_ Ill Will’s Sandy. Haribee is the place
of execution outside of Carlisle. 3. The Liddel-rack is a ford in that
river, which, for a few miles before it empties into the Esk, is the
boundary of England and Scotland. 8. Branxholm, or Branksome, is three
miles southwest, and Stobs, 16, some four miles southeast, of Hawick.
19. Woodhouselee was a house on the Scottish border, a little west of
the junction of the Esk and Liddel, “belonging to Buccleuch,” says
Scott.
1
O have ye na heard o the fause Sakelde?
O have ye na heard o the keen Lord Scroop?
How they hae taen bauld Kinmont Willie,
On Hairibee to hang him up?
2
Had Willie had but twenty men,
But twenty men as stout as he,
Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont taen,
Wi eight score in his companie.
3
They band his legs beneath the steed,
They tied his hands behind his back;
They guarded him, fivesome on each side,
And they brought him ower the Liddel-rack.
4
They led him thro the Liddel-rack,
And also thro the Carlisle sands;
They brought him to Carlisle castell,
To be at my Lord Scroope’s commands.
5
‘My hands are tied, but my tongue is free,
And whae will dare this deed avow?
Or answer by the border law?
Or answer to the bauld Buccleuch?’
6
‘Now haud thy tongue, thou rank reiver!
There’s never a Scot shall set ye free;
Before ye cross my castle-yate,
I trow ye shall take farewell o me.’
7
‘Fear na ye that, my lord,’ quo Willie;
‘By the faith o my bodie, Lord Scroop,’ he said,
‘I never yet lodged in a hostelrie
But I paid my lawing before I gaed.’
8
Now word is gane to the bauld Keeper,
In Branksome Ha where that he lay,
That Lord Scroope has taen the Kinmont Willie,
Between the hours of night and day.
9
He has taen the table wi his hand,
He garrd the red wine spring on hie;
‘Now Christ’s curse on my head,’ he said,
‘But avenged of Lord Scroop I’ll be!
10
‘O is my basnet a widow’s curch?
Or my lance a wand of the willow-tree?
Or my arm a ladye’s lilye hand?
That an English lord should lightly me.
11
‘And have they taen him Kinmont Willie,
Against the truce of Border tide,
And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch
Is keeper here on the Scottish side?
12
‘And have they een taen him Kinmont Willie,
Withouten either dread or fear,
And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch
Can back a steed, or shake a spear?
13
‘O were there war between the lands,
As well I wot that there is none,
I would slight Carlisle castell high,
Tho it were builded of marble-stone.
14
‘I would set that castell in a low,
And sloken it with English blood;
There’s nevir a man in Cumberland
Should ken where Carlisle castell stood.
15
‘But since nae war’s between the lands,
And there is peace, and peace should be,
I’ll neither harm English lad or lass,
And yet the Kinmont freed shall be!’
16
He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,
I trow they were of his ain name,
Except Sir Gilbert Elliot, calld
The Laird of Stobs, I mean the same.
17
He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,
Were kinsmen to the bauld Buccleuch,
With spur on heel, and splent on spauld,
And gleuves of green, and feathers blue.
18
There were five and five before them a’,
Wi hunting-horns and bugles bright;
And five and five came wi Buccleuch,
Like Warden’s men, arrayed for fight.
19
And five and five like a mason-gang,
That carried the ladders lang and hie;
And five and five like broken men;
And so they reached the Woodhouselee.
20
And as we crossd the Bateable Land,
When to the English side we held,
The first o men that we met wi,
Whae sould it be but fause Sakelde!
21
‘Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?’
Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell to me!’
‘We go to hunt an English stag,
Has trespassd on the Scots countrie.’
22
‘Where be ye gaun, ye marshal-men?’
Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell me true!’
‘We go to catch a rank reiver,
Has broken faith wi the bauld Buccleuch.’
23
‘Where are ye gaun, ye mason-lads,
Wi a’your ladders lang and hie?’
‘We gang to herry a corbie’s nest,
That wons not far frae Woodhouselee.’
24
‘Where be ye gaun, ye broken men?’
Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell to me!’
Now Dickie of Dryhope led that band,
And the nevir a word o lear had he.
25
‘Why trespass ye on the English side?
Row-footed outlaws, stand!’ quo he;
The neer a word had Dickie to say,
Sae he thrust the lance thro his fause bodie.
26
Then on we held for Carlisle toun,
And at Staneshaw-bank the Eden we crossd;
The water was great, and meikle of spait,
But the nevir a horse nor man we lost.
27
And when we reachd the Staneshaw-bank,
The wind was rising loud and hie;
And there the laird garrd leave our steeds,
For fear that they should stamp and nie.
28
And when we left the Staneshaw-bank,
The wind began full loud to blaw;
But ’twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet,
When we came beneath the castel-wa.
29
We crept on knees, and held our breath,
Till we placed the ladders against the wa;
And sae ready was Buccleuch himsell
To mount the first before us a’.
30
He has taen the watchman by the throat,
He flung him down upon the lead:
‘Had there not been peace between our lands,
Upon the other side thou hadst gaed.
31
‘Now sound out, trumpets!’ quo Buccleuch;
‘Let’s waken Lord Scroope right merrilie!’
Then loud the Warden’s trumpets blew
‘O whae dare meddle wi me?’
32
Then speedilie to wark we gaed,
And raised the slogan ane and a’,
And cut a hole thro a sheet of lead,
And so we wan to the castel-ha.
33
They thought King James and a’ his men
Had won the house wi bow and speir;
It was but twenty Scots and ten
That put a thousand in sic a stear!
34
Wi coulters and wi forehammers,
We garrd the bars bang merrilie,
Untill we came to the inner prison,
Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie.
35
And when we cam to the lower prison,
Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie,
‘O sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie,
Upon the morn that thou’s to die?’
36
‘O I sleep saft, and I wake aft,
It’s lang since sleeping was fleyd frae me;
Gie my service back to my wyfe and bairns,
And a’gude fellows that speer for me.’
37
Then Red Rowan has hente him up,
The starkest men in Teviotdale:
‘Abide, abide now, Red Rowan,
Till of my Lord Scroope I take farewell.
38
‘Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope!
My gude Lord Scroope, farewell!’ he cried;
‘I’ll pay you for my lodging-maill
When first we meet on the border-side.’
39
Then shoulder high, with shout and cry,
We bore him down the ladder lang;
At every stride Red Rowan made,
I wot the Kinmont’s airns playd clang.
40
‘O mony a time,’ quo Kinmont Willie,
‘I have ridden horse baith wild and wood;
But a rougher beast than Red Rowan
I ween my legs have neer bestrode.
41
‘And mony a time,’ quo Kinmont Willie,
‘I’ve pricked a horse out oure the furs;
But since the day I backed a steed
I nevir wore sic cumbrous spurs.’
42
We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank,
When a’the Carlisle bells were rung,
And a thousand men, in horse and foot,
Cam wi the keen Lord Scroope along.
43
Buccleuch has turned to Eden Water,
Even where it flowd frae bank to brim,
And he has plunged in wi a’his band,
And safely swam them thro the stream.
44
He turned him on the other side,
And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he:
‘If ye like na my visit in merry England,
In fair Scotland come visit me!’
45
All sore astonished stood Lord Scroope,
He stood as still as rock of stane;
He scarcely dared to trew his eyes
When thro the water they had gane.
46
‘He is either himsell a devil frae hell,
Or else his mother a witch maun be;
I wad na have ridden that wan water
For a’the gowd in Christentie.’
187
JOCK O THE SIDE
#A.# ‘John a Side,’ Percy MS., p. 254; Hales and Furnivall, II, 203.
#B.# ‘Jock o the Side.’ #a.# Caw’s Poetical Museum, 1784, p. 145. #b.#
Campbell, Albyn’s Anthology, II, 28, 1818.
#C.# ‘John o the Side,’ Percy Papers, as collected from the memory of
an old person in 1775.
#D.# Percy Papers, fragment from recitation, 1774.
The copy in Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1802, I, 154, 1833, II, 76, is #B b#,
with the insertion of three stanzas (6, 7, 23) from #B a#. Neither
Campbell nor Scott has the last stanza of #B a#. Campbell says, in a
note to his copy: The melody and particularly the words of this
Liddesdale song were taken down by the editor from the singing and
recitation of Mr Thomas Shortreed, who learnt it from his father. As to
the words (except in the omission of four stanzas), #b# does not differ
significantly from #a#, and it may, with little hesitation, be said to
have been derived from #a#. Campbell seems to have given this copy to
Scott, who published it sixteen years before it appeared in the
Anthology, with the addition already mentioned.[317] The copy in the
Campbell MSS, I, 220, is #B a#.
The earliest appearance of John o the Side is, perhaps, in the list of
the marauders against whom complaint was made to the Bishop of Carlisle
“presently after” Queen Mary Stuart’s departure for France; not far,
therefore, from 1550: “John of the Side (Gleed John).”
Mr R. B. Armstrong has printed two bonds in which John Armstrong of the
Syde is a party, with others, of the date 1562 and 1563. History of
Liddesdale, etc., Appendix, pp ciii, civ, Nos LXV, LXVI.
The earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, after the failure of the
Rising in the North, fled first to Liddesdale, and thence “to one of the
Armstrongs,” in the Debateable Land. The Liddesdale men stole the
Countess of Northumberland’s horses, and the earls, continuing their
flight, left her “on foot, at John of the Syde’s house, a cottage not to
be compared to any dog-kennel in England.” At his departing, “my lord of
Westmoreland changed his coat of plate and sword with John of the Syde,
to be the more unknown:” Sussex to Cecil, December 22, 1569, printed in
Sharp’s Memorials of the Rebellion, p. 114 f.